Meet the Woman In Charge of Not Blowing Up the 405 Freeway

Now you know--part of the reason, anyway--why there's no subway under Sepulveda: the above is a Metro rendering of all the utilities buried below the boulevard that parallels the 405. The image, via County Supe Zev Yaroslavsky's website, accompanies a story on Bonnie Verdin, the brave woman charged with safely relocating utilities during the 405 Freeway widening project going on now. You may recall a little non-event called Carmageddon--Verdin spent it worrying about an eight inch high-pressure gas line that ran under the Mulholland Bridge, which was getting demolished. Her latest effort involves moving a half foot gas line and an eight inch crude oil line in West LA to "clear the way for construction of new flyover ramps at Wilshire Boulevard" (aka The Rampture). The biggest nightmare for Verdin may be "running interference among the 20-plus utility owners and agencies involved—from AT&T to Verizon, with everyone from Chevron to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in between."
· Meet the 405 Project’s utility player [Zev Yaroslavsky]
· 405 Horsemen of the Sig Alert Apocalypse Archives [Curbed LA]