The White House announced today that the crown of the Statue of Liberty will reopen to the public this Independence Day – July 4, 2009. The Statue of Liberty’s crown was closed after the 9/11 attacks. At the time it was concluded that the spiral staircase leading to the crown is too narrow with low handrail which does not meet modern safety codes.

The delays in reopening were caused by the difficulties in finding the way to evacuate people quickly and efficiently in case of emergency. The base of the Statue of Liberty did not reopen until August 3, 2004. The torch of the Statue of Liberty has been closed since 1916 when it was damaged by a bomb.

Once the crown of the Statue of Liberty reopens, only up to 10 people will be allowed up there at the same time. If each stays for approximately 20 minutes (which is an average time people used to spend in the crown), 30 people will be let in per hour. That limits the number of visitors to only about 50,000 a year so the access will be chosen by the lottery.

It’s great to see the long overdue reopening of one of New York’s landmarks timed for the National Holiday. The view from the Statue of Liberty must be breathtaking. Even though many argue that the statue should never be open for public. The staircase to the top was not built for heavy public use. It was meant for occasional maintenance. And should a case of emergency (such as fire) occur, evacuating people from there would be excessively difficult and that could result in casualties. It’s a disaster in the making so both opponents and supporters of crown reopening have valid arguments.

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