Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood will reopen overnight Friday after being shut down for more than a week due to a massive water main break, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said.
“Overnight, LADWP personnel will demobilize and the L.A. County Sheriff Department will lift all local street closures related to this incident,” the utility said in a 7 p.m. update on Friday.
The department has making repairs on Sunset Boulevard at Palm Avenue since last Thursday, when a 36-inch water line burst — flooding the street with more than 17 million gallons of water and creating a sinkhole. Those floodwaters damaged businesses, flooded underground parking garages and tore up sidewalks in the neighborhood.
Crews have been working around the clock but have hit multiple snags as new leaks formed in the pipe Wednesday and early Friday morning. Despite those setbacks, the LADWP believes it can still achieve its goal of having the road temporarily repaved and open to traffic by the end of the week.
The project won’t be over yet, though. Crews are expected to return over the next few weeks and do permanent repaving work, temporarily closing lanes on Sunset Boulevard again.
Additionally, after the major break in the century-old pipe, the LADWP says it’s working to speed up they replacement plan for more than 6 miles of underground water lines in the area. That replacement plan, which could take four years to complete, originally wasn’t set to start until 2031.
“We’re doing everything we can do to accelerate that program, see what we can do to get out here, very much sooner than later,” said David Hanson, interim general manager of LADWP.
One West Hollywood resident said her neighbor’s car became totaled. Karma Dickerson and Camilla Rambaldi report for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
People in the area told NBC Los Angeles that they’re ready to get their community back to normal.
“I am a little surprised but happy they were able to get it done so quickly just for all of us who live up here,” Sam Tomei said.