Aging pedestrian tunnels beneath the streets of Los Angeles have been overtaken by squatters who break through fencing and leave the underground passageways buried in filth, the New York Post reports.
One of the tunnels sits near Soto Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights. It is one of several pedestrian underpasses across the city that have fallen into disrepair and now draw homeless encampments and illegal activity, according to the report.
Chain-link fences and gates have been installed to seal the entrances, but trespassers keep breaking through. Crews and news cameras that have gotten inside describe passageways littered with feces, urine, drugs, food, clothing, furniture and sex toys. A sofa and children’s clothing were among the items found in the Boyle Heights tunnel, KTLA reported.
The tunnel network was built roughly a century ago for the opposite purpose: to let schoolchildren cross increasingly busy streets without stepping into traffic. Around 220 of the tunnels were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s, funded by more than $1 million in bond measures approved by Los Angeles voters, according to the Los Angeles Times.
They did not last. By the late 1960s the passageways were already falling out of use, and in 1968 public works officials adopted a formal policy for closing them after the Los Angeles Board of Education warned that many had become unsafe, unsanitary corridors attracting criminal activity. That policy led to the closure of several tunnels across the city. The ones still standing remain a safety concern for the neighborhoods above them.
District 14 City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, said the tunnel in her district is a public safety threat. “For years, the tunnel has presented persistent public health and safety concerns, including accumulated trash and debris, flooding and debris-flow hazards during adverse weather, and activity inside the passageway that has disrupted nearby school operations,” Jurado told KTLA in a statement.
Jurado filed a motion in February 2026 seeking a permanent closure. “As previous efforts to adequately close the tunnel have been unsuccessful, there is an urgent need for the City to develop a permanent solution to close the tunnel,” she wrote. “This endeavor will advance safer, more accessible streets for our students, educators, workers, families, and surrounding community.”
She told the outlet that sealing it for good is not a quick fix. “A permanent closure requires an engineering evaluation, coordination among the relevant City departments, identification of funding, and approval through the City Council process,” Jurado said.
The push is not new. Jurado’s predecessor, Kevin De Leon, filed a similar motion in 2024. “Rather than providing safe passage for the Soto Street Elementary students and parents, this pedestrian tunnel has provided harbor for illicit activity and dangerous conditions,” De Leon argued at the time. “The City should take the steps necessary to permanently close this tunnel and abate ongoing public safety hazards that are taking place at this site.”
Two motions and two council members later, the fencing is still there — and so are the people getting past it.