August 10, 2010
Fire safety upgrades to close Statue of Liberty late-'11/12
Sometime after October 2011, the Statue of Liberty’s crown, pedestal and museum will temporarily close to the public for extra fire safety upgrades that will allow more people to visit the landmark, a spokesperson for the National Parks of New York Harbor told NewYorkology today.
On Friday, the NPS will release an environmental assessment report detailing the repairs, which will include” alterations to the staircases in the pedestal, upgrades to the fire suppression system, changes to the HVAC system, two new means of exiting the monument and a ‘fire break’ between the Statue itself and the pedestal,” according to a statement issued Monday by the NPS.
“The NPS hasn’t completed the planning process nor awarded a contract for the work, so the cost of the project is actually unknown at this time. Also, because we have not finalized the plans, we do not know for how long visitation will be affected,” NPS spokeswoman Mindi Rambo told NewYorkology via e-mail. “Work will NOT start before the end of October 2011. We are going to celebrate Lady Liberty’s 125th birthday (Oct. 28) before we begin construction.”
In May 2009, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the crown would reopen July 4, 2009 for the first time since the 2001 terror attacks. At that time, he said the crown would be open for two years and then close again for more major safety upgrades. (However, most media neglected to even mention the upcoming closing and instead only reported on the re-opening.)
In order to visit the crown of the Statue of Liberty. visitors must purchase tickets in advance, sometimes months in advance, as only 30 people per hour are allowed to climb the 354 steps to the top. Currently those tickets are sold out through summer, though on occasion (such as this morning,) returns can be purchased from Statue Cruises, the only official ferry boat company allowed to transport visitors to Liberty and Ellis islands.
After the NPS on Friday releases its Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect on the proposed life safety changes at Statue of Liberty National Monument, public comment will be solicited through Sept. 13. “It is the first of several steps that the park is required to take before making changes of this proposed magnitude, and until the entire planning process is complete, it is not possible to accurately estimate construction costs,” according to the NPS statement.
Rambo reitterated in her e-mail that these upgrades are about fire safety, not security.
Prior to the Sept. 11, 2010 attacks, the NPS faced criticism for lack of fire safety inside the statue. At least two NPS officials said the statue could have turned into a “firetrap” if hundreds of people were inside trying to reach the one exit in the pedestal.
The statue on July 21 had a smoke situation and evacuation due to the elevator that only goes as high as the pedestal. The “NPS does plan to replace the elevator as part of the project,” Rambo said.
Liberty Island will remain open during the construction process. More details about the work from the NPS statement:The principal changes will be to the pedestal. Current fire code mandates that there be two separated means of egress so that, in the event one path out is compromised, a safe means of exiting the structure is available. At least one staircase also has to have a two-hour fire rating, meaning that visitors would have two hours to evacuate. In order to meet this code, at least one staircase has to be encapsulated and the interior space conditioned. The present staircases in the Monument will not allow for this. These changes, together with the other planned safety improvements, are expected to enable the park to increase visitation to the crown and improve visitor safety overall.
Earlier: Statue of Liberty crown six-month visitor total: 32,609
Inside Statue of Liberty’s crown looking out on NYC
August 10, 2010 10:12 AM in Architecture, Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Kids, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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