Hawai‘i Delegation Requests Status on Arizona Memorial Reopening

In a letter to National Park Service Acting Director Dan Smith, the Hawai’i Congressional Delegation is demanding progress updates on when the USS Arizona Memorial floating dock will reopen.

Due to the closure of the dock in May 2018, visitors can no longer access the memorial on foot and are restricted to a narrated tour in the general vicinity.

The home to the USS Arizona Memorial, the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in our state. Nearly 1.8 million tourists visited the monument last year, including 2,000 of some of the last remaining World War II survivors and their families.

The letter from the delegation said, “Given that the details and timeline for the dock repair have changed numerous times over the past 10 months, and that the most recent announcement by NPS does not include a target date for the reopening of the dock, we request that you provide us with monthly written updates until the floating dock at the USS Arizona Memorial is repaired and reopened to the public.”

The delegation is also requesting monthly status updates as well as details about work completed in the past and anticipated to be completed in the future. In addition, the delegation is investigating the NPS’s budget for the project including staffing details and whether or not additional funding will be requested from Congress.

Originally, immediately after the unanticipated closure, officials who surveyed and assessed the dock damage anticipated a simple fix.

However, further inspections revealed the need for much more extensive repairs, leading the NPS estimate a December 2018 reopening, just in time for the Pearl Harbor anniversary.

Then the NPS pushed the reopening date back even further, saying it would be ready in March 2019.

It’s now March and the NPS is forecasting another postponement, this time with no particular date in mind.

To access the full letter, click here.