The National Park Service awarded a Rockville, Maryland, company a $10.78 million contract to modernize the Washington Monument elevator and build a new visitor screening facility.
Grunley Construction Company will complete both projects before the monument is reopened to visitors in spring 2019, NPS said in a release.
The monument was closed to visitors in August 2016 after several elevator outages forced visitors to leave by walking down 896 steps.
Grunley Construction will repair, upgrade and modernize the elevator, NPS said. The project is being funded by a $3 million donation from businessman David M. Rubenstein.
The construction company will also build a permanent visitor screening facility. The new building will be able to hold up to 20 visitors at a time and will provide more facilities for NPS and U.S. Park Police staff, NPS said.
The new screening facility will be made of glass and steel and provide "full ballistic and blast protection." It will replace the current security screening building, which was built in 2001 and intended to be temporary.
Funding for the visitor screening facility was appropriated from the NPS budget.
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NPS previously estimated the elevator modernization and screening facility construction would cost between $8 million and $12 million.
Grunley was involved in other government projects, including the construction of the National World War II Memorial and a renovation at the Kennedy Center, according to the company’s website.
