Growing Mystery Underground

The finger-pointing has already begun in the wake of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s admission Wednesday that parts of the new Red Line subway tunnels are misaligned and will need to be re-excavated. But regardless of who ultimately pays the price for this latest blunder, the seemingly endless series of problems that has plagued this project isn’t going to do much to inspire public enthusiasm for the new mass transit system.

Last year a Times investigation found other safety-related problems on the Red Line, which currently runs from Union Station to MacArthur Park. It turns out that tunnel walls in parts of the recently opened stretch of Red Line were thinly constructed and as a result, some seismic experts say, might be vulnerable to earthquakes. Contractor Tutor-Saliba Corp., which blamed the problem partly on misalignment, agreed to make and pay for necessary repairs--an appropriate move.

With the second phase of construction at hand, more bad news comes: Not only is the $165-million tunnel project nine months behind schedule, about a third of the 4.5-mile extension from MacArthur Park to Hollywood is out of alignment.

A spokesman for Shea-Kiewit-Kenny, the contractor, says that “anyone questioning the alignment problems . . . does not understand tunnel construction or has other motivations.” That’s possible, and surely the contractor will have its full day in the court of public opinion. But with millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, Los Angeles transportation officials have every right to question construction methods and project management. As one incredulous MTA board member wondered: “Is this yet another question of failure of construction management? . . . I thought we had been led to believe that problems had been resolved.”

So had everyone else. But it would appear that nettlesome problems in quality control and construction methods continue to plague what is already the most expensive subway project in the nation. Franklin White, the chief executive officer of the MTA, who took the job only a year ago, now has another tough one in his in-box.