Remember that 20-foot crack in the World War II Memorial?

Well, it’s not getting any better. Since it was discovered by the National Park Service in 2005 (just a year after the memorial was dedicated) the hairline fracture has just kept growing, says NPS spokesperson Mike Litterst. More recently, the NPS has also discovered a second crack in the memorial, on the granite pillar dedicated to the District of Columbia, Litterst confirms to DCist.

So after years of keeping a careful eye on the cracks, NPS has decided it’s time to see why they’re forming in the first place. This week, the Atlantic archway at the WWII memorial is closed as crews assess the damage and prepare a report to NPS recommending a potential stabilization or fix, Litterst says. The crews aren’t currently doing any kind of repair work, he clarifies.

WJLA was the first to report the news.

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1131664781923033088

Visitors can still see the whole memorial, and walk around most of it. But they won’t be able to access the Atlantic archway or the walkways leading up to it, Litterst says. The memorial gets roughly 5 million visitors a year.

NPS does not believe that the cracks present any kind of structural danger to visitors, and the memorial will be entirely open to visitors again by the weekend. Even if NPS ended up completing repair work on the cracks, Litterst says there would never be a scenario where the entire memorial would be closed.

Despite the lack of safety concern, Litterst says that NPS has other reasons for wanting to stabilize or get rid of the cracks.

“Public safety aside, it’s important to us that the men honored by that memorial have a fitting monument free of blemishes and cracks,” he says.