BHHS Drilling Begins For Soil, Fault Zones
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Dec 18, 2011 - 4:13:27 PM
Subway route fault zone map courtesy of L.A. Metro.
BEVERLY HILLS—On Thursday, December 15, the Beverly Hills Unified School District Board president informed parents of students of the local high school that drilling has begun across the campus until the end of February in order to collect soil samples, confirm the existence of faults there and determine if they are active.
BHHUSD Board President Brian David Goldberg said in his message that Leighton Consultants, a California-based engineering firm, will be drilling a series of holes throughout the high school until January to obtain the soil and will next dig a trench as wide as the campus to look for the faults. The school board's approach to the drilling study and it findings will
be reviewed by the California and U.S. Geological survey groups, Goldberg said.
Findings from the drilling will be used to scrutinize those released in November by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation (Metro). A Metro fault investigation report concludes that two active faults lie along Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars on a route preferred by Beverly Hills residents that would extend subway service to the Westside of L.A. Whereas Metro found no evidence of faults on Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars, a stop for a route that would require tunneling underneath Beverly Hill High School. The school board opposes the latter option.
Goldberg said the trench work that will occur until the end of February will be "disruptive" in that it will involve heavy equipment, fenced-off areas, altered walkways, noise, markings, survey flags and disturbed landscaping. To offset these disruptions, he said much of the work will be done off-hours and during the holiday season. The Board reportedly voted 4-1 on December 13 to amend its contract with Leighton to add a compressed schedule.
"We ask for the patience and understanding of everyone on campus. We especially ask for staff and students to be aware of the safety issues involved with this work. Please keep your distance from all activity and equipment," Goldberg said. "We appreciate the natural curiosity of everyone on campus and intend to create a learning experience with this activity where students will be able to interact with our team of experts and see the work close at hand."
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