WaPo: Jefferson Memorial's Signs of Sinking Raise Fresh Alarms

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061502436.html

Jefferson Memorial's Signs of Sinking Raise Fresh Alarms
Officials Studying Safety, Repairs

By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 16, 2007; Page A01

Up on the surface, the signs of the trouble at the Jefferson Memorial are small:

A few blacktop patches over uneven seams in some concrete. A cordoned-off section where the sea wall has slipped below the front plaza. The "tilt meter" boxes that visitors can't see unless they know where to look.

Underground, though, the problems may be huge: Slowly, almost imperceptibly, parts of the complex seem to be sinking into the mud.

It's probably not endangering the majestic 32,000-ton domed structure itself, although it's being monitored for movement.

The big problem seems to be a section of the sea wall that is breaking from the memorial's plaza and settling into the Tidal Basin. The "ring road" along the memorial's circumference also seems to be shifting, officials say.

Such movement is an alarming -- and chronic -- problem at the Jefferson Memorial, which was built in the late 1930s and early 1940s atop pilings and caissons sunk into an artificial mud flat that is about 100 feet deep. Engineers have been struggling for decades to keep everything firmed up.

The National Park Service, which oversees the 18-acre memorial site, is trying to see how bad the movement is this time and is wondering what it will take to fix it.

more...

[hobbit709]

1. The irony, the irony

[BrotherBuzz]

2. The irony is that if Jefferson himself had a hand in the design.....

none of this would be happening.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. He's turning over in his memorial.

[Patsy Stone]

4. Drawing comparison here

between that and the sinking of the America Jefferson envisioned.

Thanks.

[kestrel91316]

5. Oh no. The Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials are my favorite parts of DC.

I got to see them in about 1967 as a kid, up close and personal.

[babylonsister]

6. You need to get back quick! before the earth swallows them!

;-)