North Hollywood : Soil Strengthening on Subway Site Planned

Concerned that the streets of North Hollywood might suffer a similar fate as the once sunken stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, the MTA has approved steps to strengthen the soil above the construction site of the Red Line subway near Lankershim Boulevard.

MTA board members unanimously agreed to spend $4.7 million for chemical grouting to stabilize the soil along the North Hollywood-Universal City subway tunnel. MTA officials realized the need for such work in April when a street near Lankershim Boulevard began to sink slightly because of sandy soil.

The chemical grouting in the North Hollywood area was first stepped up in July as a precautionary measure to avoid the sinkhole disaster in east Hollywood this summer.

In June, one-half block of Hollywood Boulevard collapsed into a cavernous, muddy sinkhole above subway construction, shutting down tunneling and closing down a three-block section of Hollywood Boulevard--from Vermont Avenue to Edgemont Street--while crews worked feverishly to fill the 70-foot-wide hole. A burst water main had weakened the earth between the street and the tunnel, causing huge chunks of pavement to break.

Although the soil in North Hollywood has not come close to such a fate, the weak soil near Lankershim Boulevard has stalled work on one of the two tunnels.