May 8, 2009
It's official: Statue of Liberty crown will reopen July 4
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar this morning said the Statue of Liberty crown will reopen to the public as of July, 4.
Salazar made the announcement on NBC’s “Today Show,” which is broadcasting live from the crown this morning.
The crown has been closed since Sept. 11, 2001, mainly for fire safety reasons, the National Park Service has said.
“This Statue of Liberty really is about hope and optimism for America, it’s also about jobs that come with tourism all over this country, and it’s about President Obama’s agenda. So today we’re announcing that on the Fourth of July, we will open up the crown of the Statue of Liberty here in New York and New Jersey to the entire people of America in a way that we’ll be able to manage the crowds that come into this place,” Salazar said.
“We have conducted a very comprehensive life-safety review for the statue itself and for the pedestal and there are improvements that are gonna have to be put in place. We’ll put some of those in place before we open it up on the Fourth of July. We’ll then go through a two-year period where the crown will be opened up, where the public — it will be about 30 people an hour that can come up here, it will be managed. And then following that, we’re going to go through a more major rehabilitation that ultimately will increase the number of people who can come up here to about 200,000,” he said.
Tickets will be distributed on “a lottery type of approach,” Salazar said.
This will add a significant new tier to access, as currently only a fraction of people who visit Liberty Island are allowed to set foot inside the pedestal, which is where the museum is located. To get inside, you need a free monument pass which you can reserve online in advance or pick up the morning of your trip (though sometimes the entire day’s allotment runs out within five minutes.) In April, a spokesperson for Statue Cruises told NewYorkology that about 2,500 monument passes are distributed each day, more during summer when opening times are extended.
Update: At the 9 a.m. news conference, Salazar the handrails on Lady Liberty’s stairs will be raised and stabilized. He also said about 10 people will be allowed up the stairs at a time. In the preliminary phase, that means access to only 50,000 people. After the extra security features are added, the goal is 100,000 people a year.
Update II: The press release for the event notes this important point about the preliminary period: “The Statue of Liberty will be open for the next two years. Then it will be closed again for work on a long-term solution that will improve safety and security permanently.”
Still speaking on “Today,” Salazar addressed the safety of allowing the public to return to the narrow double-helix stairwell that stretches to the crown. He said there will be additional screening and training, and visitors will “have to realize there are some risks to coming to this type of space.”
To get to the Statue of Liberty, you must book a ferry ticket with Statue Cruises. (On January 1, 2008, Statue Cruises replaced Circle Line as the only way to get to Liberty and Ellis islands.) The ferry ticket costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children and covers the trip to both islands. To get into the pedestal to see the museum, you need to tick the box to get a free monument pass.
Currently, tickets are available for July 4, but the Statue Cruises site does not yet make mention of the crown access.
The new access will go no higher than the crown, meaning the torch will remain off limits. The torch was closed to public in 1916, after a massive explosion nearby in New Jersey at Black Tom’s, which was widely assumed to have been the work of German saboteurs to prevent the delivery of 2 million pounds of U.S. ammunition headed for WWI battlefields.
The Summer 2007 edition of Seaport magazine paints a vivid picture of the explosion’s impact on Liberty Island, which was then still known as Bedloe’s Island.Buildings on Bedloe’s Island suffered serious damage. The shore was covered with cases of powder, pieces of iron, torn fragments of brass cylinders (to fit the shells of three-inch gund) and shrapnel. The Statue of Liberty itself escaped serious damage, although three bullet holes are said to have punctured the drapery near her waist. The blast did have a far-reaching effect, however: It was the deciding factor in closing off the visitor access to the statue’s raised (and already structurally weakened) right arm.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Liberty Island closed to the public. Months later, its grounds reopened, but it wasn’t until August 2004 when limited access was offered (via monument pass) to the pedestal and museum. Even now, the monument pass gets you no higher than a view of the statue’s interior from about toe-level.
Picture credits: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Macy’s 4th of July fireworks moving to Hudson River
Statue of Liberty crown study complete, no decision yet
Statue of Liberty crown may open by July 4 - Reuters
Statue of Liberty crown may reopen on limited basis
Statue of Liberty’s crown may re-open under Obama
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May 8, 2009 7:19 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Kids, Museums, Sightsology
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