Some Tarzana residents fed up with latest round of construction on neighborhood road
TARZANA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is facing backlash as some Tarzana residents say consistent road work is driving them up a wall.
Some residents are complaining about the most recent round of construction on Rosita Street.
"Now they're re-doing it and they're cutting it up again. My kids can't sleep," said resident Monique Rosenthal.
She and others are wondering why LADWP is doing the work now since the roads were recently repaved.
"They just re-did the road less than two years ago and here we are again now," neighbor Cari Philpot said.
LADWP says the street was torn up so that crews could reach underground pipes that date back to 1958.
"We need to replace the water main in the street," John Cox from LADWP said. "We've had several leaks, and we're trying to improve the water quality and then the distribution of the water going through that neighborhood."
John Sapone with StreetsLA, a division of LADWP, clarified that the street was repaved in December 2016.
"This street was paved in 2016 in December, so it's almost 3 years old," he said. "The Department of Water and Power or anyone can apply for a permit to cut the street, as long as they go through the Bureau of Engineering to apply for the permit."
StreetsLA says when they repave a road, there is usually a one-year moratorium on any other construction work that would rip up the streets.
"This is in place to preserve our street network. When the street is cut, it significantly starts to deteriorate faster than it would if it wasn't cut," Sapone said.
But Rosenthal disagrees on the method.
"We've already paid money to do this, we got bumps in the road, now they'll have to re-do the whole road after the pipes come in. We should've done the pipes first."
LADWP says it coordinates construction with street services to make sure there is less disruption, and the work on Rosita Street should be completed around March or April of 2020.
