Sinkhole repairs on street nearly complete
The Ocean Park Boulevard sinkhole is patched up, which will allow one of Santa Monica’s primary east-west arteries to re-open next week.
Work crews are finishing the installation of new sewer pipes and final touches to the roadway — paving and striping — are planned for early next week, according to city officials.
On Sat., Dec. 28, a chunk of roadway at the intersection of Ocean Park and Euclid Avenue gave way, creating a hole approximately 15 feet deep. The following Monday, another section of Ocean Park — this time near 11th Street — also collapsed and the two holes merged to create a nearly 1,000-foot-long cavity.
On Wed., March 12, after more than two months, commuters and residents will once again be able to drive along Ocean Park between Lincoln Boulevard and 14th Street, city officials said Wednesday.
Repair work — which is expected to cost roughly $1 million — was delayed during the past two weeks because of rain, according to the city’s utility manager, Gil Borboa.
“We’re almost there,” Borboa said. “We had been fortunate (early in the year), but in the last couple of weeks the rain really hit us.”
Completion of the project was originally scheduled for the end of February.
Kris Ladish, assistant director of Mount Olive Lutheran Preschool on Ocean Park Boulevard east of the sinkhole, said the street’s closure was an inconvenience for her school’s parents and staff.
But for the students, the orifice was a boon. Mount Olive pupils baked cookies for the workers, kept journals logging their progress and went out to peer into the massive crater on a weekly basis.
“It’s been a great learning experience for the kids of our school,” Ladish said. “They go out and watch the trucks and look at all the tools. They love it.”
“It’s been a great learning experience for the kids of our school. They go out and watch the trucks and look at all the tools. They love it.” — – KRIS LADISH Assistant director at Mount Olive Lutheran Preschool
Officials believe sand beneath the street eroded when a 12-inch, high-pressure water main ruptured, releasing about 1.5 million gallons of water. As the water sprayed out, it swept the sand beneath the roadway down the slope of Ocean Park Boulevard, until the pavement above had no support and collapsed. No one was injured in the incident, and there was no serious damage to private property.
The ruptured main initially left about 200 residents living on Ocean Park between Euclid and 11th Streets without water, which city workers were able to restore by the next afternoon, officials said.
Officials decided to push ahead plans to replace the sewage lines underneath Ocean Park while the roadway was ripped apart, rather than wait and start a new project later in the year.
Borboa said no determination has been made about why the water main, which was installed in 1975, ruptured. A geo-technical investigation is currently underway and Borboa said he expects answers soon.
Once the cause is determined, Borboa said the city will inspect other locations that may have a tendency to collapse.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 7, 2003. Read the original PDF.