Washington Monument lift breaks down days after reopening
  • 5 years ago
WASHINGTON — The Washington Monument's notoriously faulty elevator strikes again!

WTOP reports that the Washington Monument reopened last Thursday after three years of renovation. Everyone was excited...except for the moody celebrity that is the monument's elevator.

Days later on Saturday, the lift, which takes visitors up to the observation deck 500 feet up, broke down at 1 p.m. and stayed that way for about an hour.

Luckily, no one was inside the elevator when it malfunctioned. Imagine the horror!

The Washington Post reports that while it wasn't immediately clear what caused the glitch, staff managed to get it back up and running — to the great relief of everyone who was still at the top.

The National Mall NPS later tweeted an update saying everyone got back to the ground safely, and apologizing to anyone who was inconvenienced. Hey, at least folks didn't have to get evacuated.

Ironically, the renovation was supposed to fix this same faulty elevator that broke down multiple times between 2014 and 2016.

Visitors back then were often left stranded at the top, facing the very real possibility of walking down 897 steps.
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