Public works officials in Los Angeles said they could get approval as soon as Friday to use $690,000 to perform emergency repairs to a portion of westbound Mulholland Drive in Studio City, where a large sinkhole developed during recent rainstorms.
The Los Angeles City Council is expected to ask the city controller to approve the transfer of the money from the city’s capital improvement expenditure program to the Public Works Bureau of Street Services to fix the damaged stretch of the roadway just east of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, said Cora Jackson-Fossett, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.
A motion to transfer the money could be introduced when the council meets Friday or early next week, she said.
The funds would cover construction expenses, operating supplies and salaries for the Mulholland project and were initially designated for two other public works projects, Jackson-Fossett said. Those jobs have not yet started, and “they are not as critical as the Mulholland project,” she said.
The damage on Mulholland Drive has forced the closure of the westbound side of the road between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Repairs would require the construction of a “bulkhead-type retaining structure,” approximately 75 feet long, which would give lateral support to the affected portion of Mulholland Drive, Jackson-Fossett said.
Once the funding is approved, the repairs would take about six to eight weeks to complete.
“Public Works-Street Services will mobilize to start work right away,” Jackson-Fossett said. “We have everything in place.”
— Ann M. Simmons
Map: The location of the sinkhole. Click for the Studio City Mapping L.A. Neighborhoods page to learn more about this area.