MTA Halts Hollywood Subway Tunneling

Responding to complaints that subway construction is causing more damage than the January earthquake, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has indefinitely stopped tunneling beneath Hollywood Boulevard.

Officials could not say how long the project would be delayed.

The world-famous Walk of Fame has buckled and cracked along a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard near Hudson Avenue, and workers were hurriedly making plans to remove the stars of Carol Burnett, Fred MacMurray and other celebrities from sections of the damaged sidewalk.

Storekeepers have complained about cracks in floors and walls, and the tunneling has caused the ground to subside up to nine inches. A movie theater was also forced to close after a water pipe broke.

Work on the $1.5-billion second leg of the subway that eventually will connect Downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley was suspended Thursday after an appeal from that neighborhood’s City Council member, Jackie Goldberg. Earlier in the week, Goldberg chaired a meeting attended by about 100 residents and business owners complaining about the tunneling.

The complaints are the latest problem to beset the subway project, which has been plagued by accusations of poor safety and accidents.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday called on the MTA to immediately investigate the damage on Hollywood Boulevard and report its findings, including preparing a plan to prevent further damage before tunneling resumes.

“It is unthinkable to permit the MTA to continue without answers and a plan for future action to guarantee the safety of people and property along Hollywood Boulevard,” Goldberg said.

The MTA has called in a team of experts to evaluate construction techniques and safety procedures. Tunneling was stopped for several months last year because of flooding and again for three weeks in March because of a construction accident.

“We ordered a halt to tunneling because the contractor was experiencing greater-than-anticipated ground settlement” at Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Street, MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin White said in a statement.

Officials say the problem is loosely packed, sandy soil. The tunneling has served to “compact this area of loose, sandy soils and caused then a corresponding subsidence at the surface,” MTA spokesman Bill Heard said.

Officials contend the situation has stabilized. But the contractor is installing additional support columns to the tunnel liner until the cause of the settlement has been determined.

In addition, an MTA worker was assigned to Hollywood Boulevard to begin taking claims for damages from business owners and residents. Tunneling in the problem area has been completed and the giant boring machines are sitting idle west of Hollywood and Hudson, officials said.