Sunset Boulevard reopens overnight in West Hollywood after water main break

Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood has fully reopened after a broken water main led to flooded streets and more than a week of repair work on the iconic and busy roadway, officials said.

According to the city of West Hollywood, the street reopened at about 11 p.m. Friday. The initial rupture occurred in the early morning hours of July 16, when a 36-inch LADWP steel main broke near Sunset and Horn Drive. 

Resulting flooding damaged dozens of vehicles and led to power outages in nearby buildings and the temporary closure of several businesses. A massive sinkhole then opened up, leaving Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews with the prospect of filling and repaving the street.

"On behalf of the West Hollywood City Council and our entire community, I'd like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated LADWP crews who worked around the clock under extraordinarily challenging conditions," said West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman. "I also want to thank our City employees, first responders, regional agency partners, local businesses, neighborhood organizations, and countless residents who demonstrated patience, resilience, and compassion throughout this response. We know this incident caused significant hardship for many people, particularly those whose homes, businesses, and daily routines were directly impacted. While reopening Sunset is an important milestone, we still have a lot to do to help our residents and businesses recover from this incident."

The current repaving is temporary, the city said, leaving crews with the task of repaving the road at a later date. Permanent repairs will be made in the coming weeks, leading to additional temporary closures, the city said.

"Thank you to the LADWP crews who have been working around the clock to make repairs," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. "LADWP is also accelerating plans to fully replace the original pipe to strengthen reliability."

The replacement of the original pipe was scheduled to take place in 2031, according to LADWP, which Bass says will now occur sooner.

"Because this is a large, complex construction effort expected to span approximately four years, it will require detailed traffic management planning, close coordination with neighbors and businesses, and compliance with state regulatory processes and permitting," LADWP said. "LADWP is committed to pursuing every opportunity to expedite legally required permitting and regulatory reviews, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)."