L.A. Presses MTA to Use Costly Safety Measures : Subway: City Council OKs report urging a variety of precautions before tunneling resumes beneath Hollywood.

In a move that is likely to raise the cost of building Los Angeles’ first subway, the City Council Tuesday told the Metropolitan Transportation Authority what it wants done to safeguard Hollywood before tunneling resumes on the Metro Rail Red Line project.

The council sent to MTA a private engineer’s report that recommends, among other things, special efforts to protect the handprints and footprints of such stars as Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre from the sinkage that cracked the Walk of Fame.

Some of the city’s recommended safety measures go beyond what the MTA has proposed--most notably the greater use of grouting, a substance that is injected in advance of tunneling to strengthen the soil.

MTA officials Tuesday refused to respond to questions about construction procedures. A spokeswoman would say only that the agency welcomed the city review--the first independent analysis of the problems that halted subway construction Aug. 18.

Gerald Lehmer, the private engineer hired by the city, said he met with MTA officials last weekend and “they indicated they would probably be willing to go along with our recommendations.”

The report, endorsed by the city engineer and two city departments, recommends that the MTA install additional steel shoring in the tunnels, increase monitoring for soil problems and redesign the joint used as bracing in the tunnel’s concrete liner. Wooden wedges, which were used as bracing instead of metal struts, fell far short of the strength required to hold soil loads.

The report also noted that water is still seeping into the tunnel.

The city has no direct control over the $5.5-billion Downtown-to-San Fernando Valley subway project but wields considerable political clout with the agency. City officials have threatened to go to court seeking to block subway construction from resuming unless the MTA takes steps to prevent further problems.

Still unclear is who will pay for the safety measures, which are certain to run into the millions of dollars.

In his inch-thick report, Lehmer offered a far more critical assessment of the problems than the MTA.

“That thing came so close to collapsing,” Lehmer said, referring to the tunnel.

The city analysis concluded that a series of circumstances, including soil conditions, water in the soil and inadequate tunneling procedures--such as the failure to grout properly and crushed wooden wedges used in the tunnel--contributed to the sinkage of up to nine inches on Hollywood Boulevard.

Lehmer said he has recommended chemical grouting in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel because of the historic nature of the structures.

Council members unanimously approved the technical report, although Councilman Richard Alatorre expressed concern that the city might be opening itself up for liability if the safety measures are implemented and problems still occur.