Photo by Nathan Jones.
Another day, another malfunction with the Washington Monument’s elevator. Well, technically, today it’s working fine, but last night a problem with the elevator stranded 23 visitors on the observation level. This comes after a similar incident happened on Tuesday night, stranding 63 people—including two pregnant women—at the top.
A National Parks Service spokesperson says that elevator technicians fixed the problem and the Monument has opened as scheduled this morning. However, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is fed up with all these elevator problems.
In a statement yesterday, Norton said she’s talking to NPS officials to ensure elevator problems don’t continue. “I am pleased that NPS had an elevator repair team on call which resolved the problem before the Monument opened for business this morning, but two elevator closures in one season are two closures too many,” Norton said. “I would not like to have been among those yesterday who found that getting down was a lot more difficult than getting to the top of the Monument. I am concerned that there was a malfunction in a newly rehabilitated elevator in what may be the busiest tourism month of the year.”