Part Of Sunset Strip Remains Closed For Water Main Repair
WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — A portion of Sunset Boulevard remained closed late Saturday afternoon as work to clean up from Friday's water main break continued.
The pipe is repaired, but while the hole is backfilled and street repaired, the Sunset Strip is closed between La Cienega Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power tweeted early Saturday evening that one lane of Sunset in each direction could be open by midnight.
On Saturday afternoon, CBS2's Laurie Perez found people who live and work in the area doing their best to get by while waiting for the repairs to be completed.
Daniel Meija, who lives nearby, said he kept last month's larger water main break at UCLA in mind as he awoke Saturday to no water. DWP said 40 connections to businesses and apartments in the area went dry as workers slowed the main's flow to less than 50 gallons a minute.
"I thought about what happened a few weeks ago, and how we lost over a billion gallons of water just because they were trying to keep the water flowing to everyone else," Meija said.
Others were being flexible as well. Keenan Carbonell's graduation went on as planned at the House of Blues, although his family had to park blocks away.
"If anything it made it a little more interesting cause we were like able to get out and see the sights from a pedestrian point of view," he said.
Businesses hope the restoration of water will mean a restoration of crowds as well. Pink Dot Convenience welcomed a trickle of customers with a dry sense of humor.
"Usually this time people are coming through buying booze and everything," said Jenny Dang. "Now it's just kind of like the ones that are really hungry, the ones that need 'my pack of cigarettes.'
By 10 p.m. on Saturday, KCAL9's Brittney Hopper said crews were ready to open as many as two lanes to traffic.
Officials told her that they expected the area to completely return to normal by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
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