Westside : MTA Begins Repairing Tunnel Below Hollywood Boulevard Sinkhole
Nearly nine months after a sinkhole opened up above the subway project in Hollywood, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority contractor began repairing the tunnel Wednesday.
Construction started on a 30-foot-high sound wall on Hollywood Boulevard, to be followed by excavation of a trench 106 feet long, 28 feet wide and 90 feet deep.
Workers need to dig out 1,300 truckloads of debris that collapsed onto one of the two tunnels June 22. Work is expected to be finished by the end of the year. One lane in each direction will remain open to traffic.
The cost of completing the tunnels beneath Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard could be as high as $68.5 million--almost triple the original estimate. Officials are seeking to recover the additional costs from insurance and litigation against the fired tunnel contractor.
Officials hope to begin subway service to Hollywood in 1998. Highland Avenue between Sunset Boulevard and Franklin Avenue, and Hollywood Boulevard between McCadden Place and Orchid Avenue are scheduled to be closed from midnight Friday to 5 a.m. Monday because of subway station construction.
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