Three lanes of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood
are reopened this morning after Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews completed repairs at the site of a water main break.
One westbound and two eastbound lanes were reopened after 11 p.m. Saturday after workers completed the backfill of the excavation at the site where a 100-year-old water main under the Sunset Strip blew apart under heavy pressure Friday.
The pipe first erupted at about 2:20 p.m. Friday in the 8400 block of
Sunset Boulevard near Olive Drive, according to the DWP.
Crews from the DWP, which supplies water to customers on West Hollywood’s east side, were dispatched to the scene and shut down the flow.
The DWP announced that it had finished welding the old cast-iron pipe at about 3 p.m. Saturday and was refilling it with treated water.
The pipe under the Sunset Strip was believed to have been installed in 1916 and was lined with concrete in 1957 “to protect (it) from corrosion and extend its life,” according to the DWP. There is also a 32-inch pipe, operated by the Metropolitan Water District, in the area.
At the height of the water flow, the ruptured pipe spewed about 9,600 gallons of water per minute, DWP spokeswoman Kim Hughes said.
At one point, Sunset Boulevard was closed in both directions between Holloway Drive and Crescent Heights Boulevard, snarling traffic into the Friday evening rush. Some surrounding streets were also closed and buses on Metro’s Line 2 were rerouted from Sunset Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard between San Vicente Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, according to Metro.
While the water was flowing, county and city fire crews used sandbags to divert it from structures and employees of the Mondrian and Grafton hotels scrambled to keep water from flowing into their buildings.
Water from Sunset Boulevard flowed downhill along neighborhood streets toward Santa Monica Boulevard, but there were no reports of residential flooding.
The House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard canceled Friday night’s concert because it was impossible to unload band equipment into the nightclub.
