By Sue Doyle and Jerry Berrios STAFF WRITERS Motorists who rely on Interstate5 will face hellish commutes Monday and beyond as work crews scramble to repair a key section of one of the state's busiest freeways.

By Patricia Farrell Aidem NEWHALL -- The Newhall Pass tunnel -- where dozens of trucks piled up in a fiery crash earlier this month -- will reopen by Thanksgiving weekend or possibly earlier, officials said Tuesday. Under terms of an $11 million contract, Oxnard-based Security Paving Company Inc.

It doesn't take much to push Los Angeles traffic into the crisis zone: A transit strike, a presidential motorcade, an earthquake, a spectacular freeway crash.

By HARRISON SHEPPARD SACRAMENTO -- The Newhall Pass is just one of dozens of potential transit choke points in the Los Angeles region that -- with a single incident such as a collision or natural disaster -- can cause thousands of Californians to be left stranded.

By JERRY BERRIOS; PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM NEWHALL