The water main break in West Hollywood that has shut down part of Sunset Boulevard for a week is expected to be completely repaired by late Friday, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said Thursday.
A 36-inch water pipe burst at Sunset Boulevard and Palm Avenue on July 16, sending millions of gallons of water into businesses and underground parking garages and bringing the intersection to a standstill.
Crews were making progress in the days after the rupture until Wednesday, when the LADWP says water started leaking again through a pinhole in the pipe, prompting crews to redo some work.
In a 7 p.m. update Thursday, the LADWP said that welders had completed repairs to the small leak.
“With welding complete, LADWP crews will begin slowly refilling and repressurizing the pipe while closely monitoring for any issues before backfilling and temporarily repaving the area as part of our emergency response,” the utility said.
The LADWP said it plans to have the street reopened by late Friday. Neighbors say they are ready for this disruption to be over.
“It’s been hellish,” Jerome Cleary said. “There’s been construction 24/7, jackhammering things, the bright light shining into my living room window. It’s just been a disaster.”
The project won’t be completely done Friday, however. It will be a temporary repaving to get traffic moving again on Sunset Boulevard, but crews will have to return in the coming weeks to close lanes and do some permanent repaving, according to the LADWP.