{"id":32770,"date":"2025-11-01T00:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T00:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/32770\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T00:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T00:53:13","slug":"frustrated-by-lack-of-helpful-underground-snapshots-san-pedros-clearwater-inspection-hits-delays-daily-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/32770\/","title":{"rendered":"Frustrated by lack of helpful underground snapshots, San Pedro\u2019s Clearwater inspection hits delays \u2013 Daily Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sonic<\/p>\n

Sonic drill rig on Western Avenue in San Pedro. The equipment is being used to explore a tunneling breach some 360 feet below ground that is being created to house new, larger wastewater pipes. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

\"Sonic<\/p>\n

Sonic drilling rig used to explore underground tunnel breach on Western Avenue in San Pedro. The project will house new, larger underground wastewater pipes to serve the region. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

\"Rotary<\/p>\n

Rotary drill on Western Avenue in San Pedro is part of the equipment being used to explore a breach in an underground tunnel being created to house new, larger wastewater pipes to serve the region. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

\"Rotary<\/p>\n

Rotary drilling rig on Western Avenue in San Pedro being used to explore underground breach in tunnel that will house new wastewater pipes. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

\"Six-<\/p>\n

Six- and four-inch steel casings to encase underground cameras are shown on Western Avenue where Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts is conducting an investigation into what may have caused a 360-foot deep underground tunnel being created to house larger wastewater pipes to serve the region. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Map shows where 6-inch bore holes will be drilled on Western Avenue in San Pedro. Workers will send a camera below ground to a depth of 370 feet to determine more about what caused the tunnel breach in a project to build new wastewater pipes from Carson to San Pedro. Work is set to begin on Monday, Sept. 29 and continue for four to six weeks on Western Avenue just north of Weymouth \u2014 above where the underground breach occurred \u2014 and work could impact traffic in at least one Western Avenue lane for four to six weeks. The location is on Western Avenue across from the Fifth Street cul-de-sac and will require one southbound traffic lane closure. (Local Rights)\n<\/p>\n

\"Clearwater<\/p>\n

Clearwater tunnel project July, 2025 in San Pedro. (Courtesy Clearwater Project)\n<\/p>\n

\"Clearwater<\/p>\n

Clearwater breach collapse on July 9, 2025 in San Pedro. (Courtesy Clearwater Project)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A worker looks down the shaft to the tunnel of the Clearwater project site site in Wilmington on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Thirty-one workers, aided by rescuers, made it out safely after a stretch of tunnel under construction collapsed in Wilmington on Wednesday night, July 9, 2025. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Mile<\/p>\n

Mile 5 of the Clearwater project runs south to the left of Western Ave. in San Pedro seen here on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Thirty-one workers, aided by rescuers, made it out safely after a stretch of tunnel under construction collapsed in Wilmington on Wednesday night, July 9, 2025. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Clearwater project site site in Wilmington on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Thirty-one workers, aided by rescuers, made it out safely after a stretch of tunnel under construction collapsed in Wilmington on Wednesday night, July 9, 2025. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Fire Department Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva speaks at a press conference after a tunnel collapsed on dozens of workers in the underground Clearwater Tunneling Project in Wilmington on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (Photo by Raphael Richardson, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 12<\/p>\n

Sonic drill rig on Western Avenue in San Pedro. The equipment is being used to explore a tunneling breach some 360 feet below ground that is being created to house new, larger wastewater pipes. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Drilling for underground camera access could continue on Western Avenue in San Pedro until the end of the year as county officials grapple now with a drilling machine repair and \u2014 so far \u2014 no good images of the deep underground landscape to explain why a tunnel under construction sustained a breach this past year.<\/p>\n

The tunnel, some 360 feet underground, had been under construction from Carson to San Pedro to install new, larger wastewater pipes to serve the region. It has been suspended since the breach occurred near the end of the line in July.<\/p>\n

But the effort to glean more information by lowering remote cameras underground is proving to be challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s far more complicated than we expected, the work is slow and frustrating,\u201d said Michael Chee, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts.<\/p>\n

The breach occurred underground below Western Avenue at about the Fifth Street cul-de-sac mark \u2014 west of Weymouth Avenue and south of where Weymouth curves up to connect with and cross Western. The camera drilling is being conducted on Western, directly above where the underground breach occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only been able to bore one hole to (the needed) depth two weeks ago and we had a limited camera view from that first bore hole,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to get more sophisticated equipment but the conditions below ground keep changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping the lowered equipment stable enough for clear images at that depth, he said, is difficult.<\/p>\n

While the depth itself is causing equipment instability \u2014 with a remote camera being lowered through 6-inch bore holes that narrow down to four inches inside steel pipes or casings in the ground \u2014 no land movement has been detected above, Chee said. Numerous monitors have been installed throughout the area to measure any signs of surface movement.<\/p>\n

The steel pipes serve as the casings in the bore hole to stabilize and keep the hole open as equipment and cameras are sent below. The casings, Chee said, can move or become stuck due to the extreme depths.<\/p>\n

In a separate delay, several days ago work was paused to take the district\u2019s drilling machine in for repairs, Chee said. It is expected to be back onsite in the coming week.<\/p>\n

But the timing on the completion of the camera drilling process, he said, is still unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a specific time frame,\u201d he said, adding that it would be \u201cat least several weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the lingering questions is the condition of the tunnel boring machine<\/a> that remains trapped about a mile ahead of the breach point, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there\u2019s a significant amount of water down there, we continue to pump water out at a steady flow rate,\u201d Chee said. But he said the water \u2014 likely groundwater from a subterranean aquifer \u2014 is not increasing.<\/p>\n

The entire length of the tunnel from Carson to San Pedro \u2014 about seven miles \u2014 will be carefully inspected before work on the final leg of tunneling can resume. Cal\/OSHA currently is reviewing plans for workers to be able to re-enter the tunnel at the northern three-mile-long section in Carson.<\/p>\n

The section after that, Chee said, would be the next three miles heading south which would bring workers close to the breach site. But that only will happen once officials can determine more about what caused the breach, how extensive the damage is, and whether the tunnel is otherwise stable and safe for workers to re-enter.<\/p>\n

Questions remain on whether other areas around or beyond the breach point may have been affected and that is what officials hope to determine with the underground camera images.<\/p>\n

The camera inspection drilling above the breach site \u2014 which has taken place Monday through Friday \u2014 began in late September and was originally slated to last until at least the end of October. It has required one southbound traffic lane closure at times.<\/p>\n

Work going forward, however, may also include some Saturday drilling work in order to expedite the task.<\/p>\n

The breach occurred on July 9, temporarily trapping 31 workers. Collapsed material largely closed off the tunnel but workers, traveling through the tunnel on a tram, were able to climb over the top of the fallen sediment pile where there was still space. All were rescued with only a few minor injuries reported.<\/p>\n

The ambitious, $630 million, multiyear Clearwater Tunneling Project<\/a> launched in 2019 and was more than a decade in the works, requiring extensive planning with advance and ongoing community outreach. Work had progressed without problems until the collapse, which occurred about five to six miles from the only above-ground access point in Wilmington to the north.<\/p>\n

Tunneling was not done under homes or other buildings but instead was done following only under streets. The project was on the last leg of its journey when the breach occurred.<\/p>\n

The older, smaller underground wastewater pipes, meanwhile, remain in place and are still working, officials said.water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonic drill rig on Western Avenue in San Pedro. The equipment is being used to explore a tunneling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,16844,179,3172,131,133,132,47,137,100,1492,1439,200,646,17411],"class_list":{"0":"post-32770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-carson","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-harbor-area","12":"tag-long-beach","13":"tag-long-beach-headlines","14":"tag-long-beach-news","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-public-safety","19":"tag-san-pedro","20":"tag-south-bay","21":"tag-water","22":"tag-wilmington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}