WASHINGTON — Repair of the earthquake-damaged Washington Monument will be a complex project that could require external scaffolding as well as months of work that will probably keep the monument closed until 2013.
National Park Service officials detailed some preliminary work plans Thursday as they announced a private donation of $7.5 million toward the project. The federal government is paying the rest of the estimated $15 million tab.
The 555-foot-tall monument, which is entered by about 600,000 visitors each year, has been closed since the 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Aug. 23.
The news conference was called to mark the donation to the monument by David Rubenstein, a billionaire Maryland philanthropist, through the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall.
“I would suggest that (the monument) hadn’t even stopped shaking before David Rubenstein came to me and asked if he could help,” said Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service. The Washington Post
