Subway Tunnel Requires Little Blasting, Yaroslavsky Says

In a bid to mollify residents in the Hollywood Hills, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Monday that explosives are not needed to dig most of the tunnel for the Red Line subway.

The issue of tunneling under the homes of residents has created widespread opposition in the Santa Monica Mountains, and many homeowners have refused to sell subsurface rights to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member, said that his conclusion that blasting can be limited is based on the report of a panel of tunneling experts to be released Wednesday.

Instead of using dynamite, he said, tunneling machines will do most of the work. Because the earth under part of Solar Drive near Runyon Canyon Park is granite, Yaroslavsky said some explosives will be necessary, though he pledged that blasts would not be felt by residents because the MTA would limit their intensity.

Attorney Kevin Brogan, who represents about a dozen residents, said Yaroslavsky’s plan might console some, but not others who are unhappy with the $2,000 offered by the MTA for tunneling rights.