Key stretch of Mulholland Drive likely to remain closed for weeks due to storm damage

A man looking at a section of collapsed hillside

By Julia WickStaff Writer

Jan. 10, 2023 5:37 PM PT

A more than two-mile stretch of Mulholland Drive between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Drive will likely remain closed to through traffic for several weeks, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

The relentless barrage of rain beating down in recent days has particularly impacted Los Angeles’ hillside communities, causing mudslides and flooding.

Across the state, the back-to-back atmospheric rivers battering California have led to at least 17 deaths, with the cost to repair damage potentially exceeding $1 billion.

The damage to Mulholland Drive occurred Thursday, with a section of hillside under the roadway eroding near Summit Circle.

“The soils got saturated, which caused some undermining of Mulholland Drive as the soils gave way,” Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Guy Tomlinson said of last week’s landslide in a video posted to Councilmember Nithya Raman’s Instagram account.

Local access on Mulholland Drive will still be permitted between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Drive, but a much smaller section of Mulholland Drive between Summit Circle and Bowman Drive is closed to all traffic.

Tomlinson said repairs could take several weeks, with weather potentially playing a role in the timeline.

“The city is trying to do this as fast as possible, but I think all of the departments want it to be really clear that it could take some time,” Raman said in the Instagram video.

Since the mudslide, a utility pole has been relocated and plastic sheeting is being installed to keep additional rain from causing further damage, according to a motion to allocate funding for repairs presented by Raman on Tuesday.

The City Council unanimously approved the allocation of $450,000 to repair the damaged roadway during Tuesday’s meeting.