1) There is a short story out there in which people were afraid to
travel the road through a tunnel because the tunel would randomly
close on each end, trapping people within and killing them.  What  is
the name of that story? Who wrote it?

2) There is a movie in which a group of people are inflicted with a
highly contagious disease in which if they fell asleep, their heads
would explode.  At the end of the movie, the government sends a few
scientists out with pills that were reported to be the cure to the
disease.  It turned out that the pills were not a cure, but poison to
kill them all and rid the world of these deadly contagious people. 
What was the name of that movie?

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 24 Aug 2005 17:35 PDT

As my friend and colleague Pinkfreud notes below, splitting this up
would be a wise approach.

I can identify #1 (the short story).  Would you accept that as the answer?

Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

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Clarification of Question by mj1000-ga on 24 Aug 2005 19:06 PDT

Thank you, pinkfreud and juggler.  You are right, I should have
separated the questions.  This was my first go at this forum, so now
I've learned.

I really do need to know what that story is, so, yes, Juggler, I will
accept your answer as the answer to my question.

Thank you.
MJ

Okay...

The short story is "The Tunnel Ahead" (1961) by Alice Glaser.

"The Tunnel Ahead" by Alice Glaser follows a family in a densely
populated future America returning home from a day at the beach,
creeping along through nearly parked traffic toward home. Traffic
stops completely while the tunnel ahead closes for a while. The family
are nervous about passing through the tunnel; exactly why is hinted at
gradually, only fully revealed at the end."
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/i/jimhenry1973/review/log-0309.htm

Also see this thread on Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/tree/browse_frm/thread/e1031910289712e4/73f82a7556f7e697?rnum=71&_done=%2Fgroup%2Frec.arts.sf.written%2Fbrowse_frm%2Fthread%2Fe1031910289712e4%2F4ffa704c71fa49cf%3F#doc_0f19a144b7c19269


The story is in various anthologies:
http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/s105.htm

    *  The 7th Annual of the Year?s Best S-F, ed. Judith Merril, Simon
& Schuster 1962
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bx=off&sts=t&ds=30&bi=0&an=merril&tn=7th+Annual+of+the+Year%92s+Best+S-F%2C&sortby=2
    * Voyages: Scenarios for a Ship Called Earth, ed. Rob Sauer, Ballantine 1971
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?y=0&tn=Voyages%3A+Scenarios+for+a+Ship+Called+Earth&x=0
    * As Tomorrow Becomes Today, ed. Charles W. Sullivan, Prentice-Hall 1974 
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&y=0&tn=As+Tomorrow+Becomes+Today%2C&x=0

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search strategy:
google groups: story "in a tunnel"

Thanks.

I suggest that you divide this into two questions, each posted
separately. When unrelated items are bundled together, you are much
less likely to get an answer than if each item had its own question,
which would enable a Researcher who knew one answer but not the other
to post and receive payment.