The National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday approved a conceptual design for $30 million worth of security and accessibility renovations at the Lincoln Memorial and West Potomac Park.
The National Park Service’s design revisits a long-standing issue of balancing security and visual aesthetics at the memorial.
The new proposal will “provide security without an obvious and visual barrier line,” said NCPC historical preservation officer Nancy Witherell.
Boston-based architectural firm Sasaki Associates focused the design around removing unsightly concrete vehicle barriers from the stairs and plaza that lead from the Lincoln Memorial directly to the Reflecting Pool.
The Reflecting Pool itself will be used as a natural water barrier, Witherell said, and sloped hills to the north and south of the memorial steps will incorporate three-foot walls to serve as vehicle barriers.
New paths leading from the plaza up to the top of the memorial steps simultaneously solve accessibility and security issues. The paths, to be constructed to the north and south of the memorial, have a 5 percent grade of incline, which meets standards set by Americans With Disabilities Act.
A series of short walls and bollards alongside each path will complete the security perimeter on the east side of the memorial.
The new provisions allow NPS to remove some existing bollards near the memorial steps and all of the stone blocks that were installed as a temporary security measure for the Lincoln Bicentennial and presidential inauguration.
Judy Scott Feldman, chairwoman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, warned that the design was simply “maintaining the status quo.” Feldman said she was concerned that there seemed to be no overarching vision for the Mall as a whole.
The commission voted unanimously to approve the design. The project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Commissioner Herbert F. Ames of South Carolina said the proposal was one of the best plans he’s seen during his more than four years of service.
Security measures installed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and other events were rushed, Ames said, and “Park Services has been given a second chance to change all that.”
NPS first proposed renovations as a part of the 2001-2002 Urban Design and Security Plan, but for years had their designs rejected due to concerns with barriers on the east side of the memorial, which faces the Reflecting Pool.
