The city is doing something to avert a repeat of last year’s large sinkhole that cost $1 million to repair and disrupted traffic for two months at Los Angeles Avenue and Sinaloa Road.

The Simi Valley City Council recently approved putting out to bid a job to send cameras into 47 miles of aging underground sewer lines.

Many of the main pipelines are past their 40-yearold life expectancy, and the risk of the pipes failing increases with time, a city report stated last month.

The information provided by the video cameras will help the city’s public works department determine the structural integrity of the pipelines and develop a maintenance and replacement plan.

Joe Deakin, assistant director of public works, said although the city has the equipment to videotape the sewer lines, the large-scale project demands more machinery and workers than the city can handle.

“It’s bigger than our scope, and we’d like it done quickly,” he said.

Deakin said the city has budgeted $325,000 for the project but isn’t exactly sure how much it will cost since they’ve never contracted out a job of this type on this large a scale.

An underground hole in a 27inch corroded main line caused the March 2005 sinkhole.

To alleviate traffic tie-ups during the construction work, the city may require the contractor to work during off-peak hours, such as 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or late at night.

“If we need to, we’ll put greater restrictions on their (traffic control) request,” said Ron Fuchiwaki, who oversees the city’s traffic department.

The contract is expected to be awarded at the April 10 city council meeting.