Emergency construction underway on new retaining wall | VIDEO

Several steps away from the crumbling edge of East 26th Street in Charles Village, a construction worker slowly unrolled a long yellow measuring tape into a circular hole about the size of a sewer manhole lid.

Foot after foot of the tape disappeared as he sought to learn the depth of the hole being bored straight down into the earth by a hulking orange drilling machine anchored not far from St. Paul Street.

Another worker at the block-long construction site Tuesday said the hole is the first of many that will be cut into the street as part of a new design to keep East 26th Street and the earth beneath it from spilling down onto the railroad tracks, which run parallel to the street, as they did last week when a century-old retaining wall collapsed amid heavy rain.

Adrienne Barnes, a city Transportation Department spokeswoman, said the city hired contractors to replace the retaining wall and repair the street. She said that 65 "borings" or "piles" are being inserted into the street by contractors hired by the city.

Such holes can be filled with steel beams or underground caissons to bolster ground stability and anchor retaining walls, experts said.

Barnes said the contract for the work is not finalized and there is no estimate of the cost or other specifics about the project.

"This is an emergency. It wasn't anything we planned for or anything that was projected. It was something we had to do," Barnes said. "We don't have any final numbers yet. Our job is to restore the neighborhood. We need to do whatever we need to do."

Jack Temple, who lives at the corner of East 26th and St. Paul, said residents were told at an informational meeting Sunday that "barring setbacks," the project could take as little as three weeks, far shorter than the 40 days they were told they might be displaced from their homes. In the meantime, Temple who said he "absolutely" appreciates the quick start to repairs is staying in a Towson hotel room provided by the city.

The city is proceeding with the work despite questions about who may be responsible for the accident, which sent the masonry wall, tons of earth and asphalt as well as eight cars tumbling onto the railroad tracks below. The city and CSX Transportation, which owns the tracks, have tussled in the past about who is responsible for maintaining the walls.

Bryan Rhode, CSX's regional vice president for state government affairs, said in a statement that the city is "leading the efforts in stabilizing the site, supporting the needs of residents and developing plans for reconstruction," and that the railroad is "grateful and supportive of the city's actions in focusing on those immediate requirements."

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Emergency construction underway on new retaining wall | VIDEO