Portion of 101 May Be Open Today : Traffic: Drivers could still face monstrous problems. Fire in Metro Rail tunnel under freeway burns itself out.

Two northbound lanes of the heavily traveled Hollywood Freeway through downtown Los Angeles may reopen today in time for the rush of morning traffic, but top transportation officials warned motorists they still could face monstrous commuting problems.

Construction crews labored around the clock all weekend to shore up a fire-damaged section of a Metro Rail tunnel beneath the freeway, but made only slow progress. Disappointed city and state officials had hoped to reopen the entire 1.5-mile stretch of U.S. 101 early today and avoid major traffic snarls.

While the tunnel fire in an unfinished section of Los Angeles’ long-awaited subway system burned itself out Sunday morning, the wreckage left behind proved far more difficult to repair than rail and highway experts initially predicted.

By Sunday evening, Dave Roper, Caltrans deputy district director, said only two northbound lanes through the downtown corridor know as “the slot” were likely to be reopened by 6 a.m. today--and he couldn’t promise even that much.

“We think there is a very excellent chance to get two lanes of the 101 (northbound) open,” said Roper. “Can I guarantee that? No.”

Commuters were urged to tune in to early morning radio and television broadcasts for updates. Even if the freeway is partially opened, motorists were urged to use alternate routes into downtown.

“Folks would be wise to bail out and work their way across the L.A. River on other streets,” said Roper. “Just avoid the area. That’s going to be your best bet.”

The two open lanes would be available only to motorists heading into the city from the Santa Ana or Pomona Freeways. Officials hoped to open more lanes during the day.

Southern California Rapid Transit District President Nick Patsaouras offered commuters on the San Bernardino Freeway free rides on RTD buses using the El Monte Busway beginning at 3 a.m. The busway will be opened to all automobiles, not just car-pool travelers in an effort to ease freeway congestion.

Trucks, however, will be barred from both the closed stretch of 101 and the busway.

For commuters coming in from the San Fernando Valley, the southbound Hollywood Freeway through downtown will remain closed. Drivers will be shunted onto the 110 Freeway as they approach downtown.

All commuters were advised to leave for work extra early, plan alternate routes downtown and check with their supervisors to see if they can adjust their work hours. Major employers also were being asked to stagger work shifts, officials said.

Shoring up the gutted tunnel was “proving to be a difficult task,” Roper said. By 5 p.m. Sunday, just over a third of the 250 feet of tunnel beneath the freeway had been reinforced with the aluminum, steel and timber braces needed to ensure the safe passage of traffic overhead. Work was so slow that construction crews still had 36 feet of repairs to make overnight to ensure that even the two lanes of freeway would open this morning.

The sluggish progress came despite the continuous work of 25-person crews who began installing the tunnel supports Saturday evening and continued around the clock with the aid of floodlights.

High temperatures and extremely cramped working conditions contributed to the slowdown. With the center of the tunnel filled with scaffolding, workers formed an assembly line at the northern entrance, cutting down pieces of lumber, ferrying them one piece at a time through the narrow passage around the scaffolding, and delivering them to workers inside.

But project officials said the deeper workers moved into the tunnel, the more damage they encountered. Steel rings supporting the tunnel construction had been twisted and contorted by the intense heat of the blaze. The extent of the damage forced construction crews to add even more bracing than had been planned, further slowing the pace, officials said.

For safety reasons, construction crews were working only in areas that had been shored up, said a spokesman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

“It’s been two shifts of slow learning,” said Roper.

Determining when the freeway would be safe for commuters and the construction workers laboring underground was the key to when the entire freeway section would reopen.

“I don’t want to put any traffic . . . over guys who are working,” said Roper.

In addition, he said, monitors would be installed on the freeway pavement to alert officials to any sign that the roadbed was failing.

Edward McSpedon, acting president of the Rail Construction Corp., a subsidiary of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which is building the Metro Rail subway, announced the formation of a series of task forces and committees to look into the mishap and come up with recommendations that could be applied to other phases of the subway’s construction. He said construction and insurance experts would conduct an investigation independent of probes being done by the Los Angeles City Fire Department and Cal/OSHA, although representatives of those organizations also would serve on the task force.

Teams will analyze how best to overcome any scheduling delays caused by the fire in the already behind schedule subway and how to rebuild the heavily damaged section of tunnel.

On Sunday night, fire officials said they had not yet determined the cause of the blaze that erupted early Friday in one of two parallel tunnel sections running from near Union Station, under vacant lots and then beneath the freeway. They said there is no indication of arson.

At the height of the fire, temperatures in the tunnel reached an estimated 2,000 degrees, smoke billowed from both the tunnel entrance and a huge crater caused by its partial collapse, and fumes from a plastic sheath that partially lined the tunnel sent a sickening odor wafting through much of downtown.

Although Friday morning traffic normally is lighter than on other weekdays, the closure of the 101 caused massive tie-ups with some workers finding their normal half-hour commute extended to two hours as they sought surface street alternatives.

The stretch of freeway between Mission Street and the four-level interchange normally handles about 210,000 vehicles a day, making it one of Los Angeles’ most heavily trafficked arteries.

Hundreds of firefighters worked in shifts to slowly douse the blaze before finally deciding to just let it burn itself out. Asst. Fire Chief Bob Ramirez said that except for occasional hot spots that flared briefly, the fire was out by Sunday morning.

Fire and rescue crews stood by throughout the weekend in case any of the construction workers struggling to shore up the tunnel needed assistance.

The fire was the most serious setback in the construction of the $1.4-billion, 4.4-mile Metro Rail subway system, which already is months behind schedule and millions of dollars over initial cost projections.

Once the reinforcement work on the fire-damaged tunnel is completed, officials will have to decide how to rebuild it. The emergency repairs over the weekend were intended only to make the tunnel strong enough to support the freeway roadbed.

The burned-out timbers and twisted steel supports that shore up the subway tunnel must be refurbished. Officials have said the fire would not delay completion of the overall project. The first leg of the subway is expected to open in September, 1993.

The damaged tunnel was not going to be used for passenger traffic, but for empty trains running between Union Station and a maintenance yard beside the Los Angeles River.

Times staff writer Josh Meyer contributed to this story.Commuter ADVICE: Officials offer tips on how to avoid a nightmare. A3