The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded the contract for repair of the anchoring system for the USS Arizona Memorial dock. Repairs are projected to be complete by fall and in time for the next December 7 remembrance, provided no issues arise during the construction period.
“We are excited to see this critical project enter its final phase,” said Jacqueline Ashwell, superintendent of WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, who oversees the memorial. “A project of this scope and complexity would normally take 3-4 years to plan and complete, but we’ve been able to get to this point in the project in less than a year because of the many employees at the National Park Service, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, GHD Limited, and Silver Mountain Construction who have worked so tirelessly.”
Access to the memorial was suspended in May 2018 when NPS staff noticed minor damage to the exterior concrete on the USS Arizona Memorial. After initial repairs were made, the damage reappeared. Closer inspection of the dock and its attaching structures revealed that the root cause of the damage stemmed from a much larger issue: failure of the dock’s anchoring system.
“There is still many things visitors can experience when they come to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center,” said Jay Blount, Chief of Interpretation for the site. “Our programming includes screening a 25-minute documentary, participating in a narrated harbor tour on Navy vessels, and exploring many of our partner sites such as the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park and the Pacific Historic Parks bookstore and virtual reality center.”
The park’s website and social media sites will continually be updated to inform the public of project milestones achieved and of any planned interruptions to visitor programming – such impacts will be kept to the minimum required to safely accomplish the work.
For more information on planning your visit, please go to www.nps.gov/valr and www.facebook.com/ValorNPS.
