HONOLULU — The USS Arizona Memorial will reopen Sunday.
The National Park Service, in coordination with the United States Navy and contractors, completed the final phase of construction this week. The reopening of the memorial will provide for a safe and enhanced visit to Pearl Harbor, allowing visitors to more closely understand the story and pay their respects to the men aboard the Arizona.
“The National Park Service is excited to welcome our visitors back to the USS Arizona Memorial very soon,” said Pearl Harbor National Memorial Acting Superintendent Steve Mietz. “It is a great honor to share the stories of the men of the USS Arizona, and all of those who served, suffered and sacrificed on Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941. That is the cornerstone of our mission here, and restoration of public access to this iconic place is critical as we continue to tell their stories and honor their memory,” Mietz said.
The $2.1 million project improves the dock’s anchoring system and addresses a critical infrastructure need at the park. Since May 2018, the NPS has completed multiple phases of the project to include analysis, contracting, design, environmental compliance, mobilization, unexploded ordnance screening, resource preservation and project execution. All of this was facilitated with much assistance from the NPS’s dedicated partners in the United States Navy and Department of Defense.
Until the Memorial reopens, visitors can still visit the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center’s two free museums and participate in ticketed programs that include a 25-minute feature film and a narrated harbor tour of Battleship Row on US Navy vessels.
Information on programs and how to obtain tickets can be found at: https://www.nps.gov/pearlharbor/faqs.htm.