WASHINGTON — The $113 million project to reconstruct the seawalls along the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park has been a long time coming, and the National Park Service just announced new details about the work that is about to get underway later this spring.
"Every day, twice a day, we are seeing water from the Tidal Basin overflow the banks or the seawall during high tide inundating roots of cherry trees, threatening sidewalks and infrastructure even some of the monuments and memorials," Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the National Mall, told WUSA9.
The seawalls along the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park were initially constructed in the late 1800s to early 1900s and since then, they’ve settled as much as five feet. We have also seen sea levels rise around a foot since that time.
"We're going to reconstruct them, we're going to anchor them in bedrock to stop the settlement, we're going to build them higher to keep the water of the Tidal Basin where it's supposed to be," Litterst said. "And we're going to widen the walkways so that during busy times like the cherry blossom peak bloom there's room for people to walk on the sidewalks and stay off the fragile tree roots."
To prepare for the construction of 68 linear feet of seawall, approximately 300 trees will need to be removed, including approximately 140 of the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin. But when the work is complete, over 450 trees, including 274 cherry trees, will be replanted.
And while there will be no impact to the National Cherry Blossom Festival this year, you will notice some upcoming closures.
"Once the construction starts in, probably late spring early summer, visitors will eventually find areas that are closed because of construction and construction fencing, probably some rerouted trails," Litterst said. "But we want to make sure that everyone knows that for this cherry blossom season there are impacts this year, we're encouraging everyone to come down this year before there are a few years of interruption due to construction."
The reconstruction is funded by the Great American Outdoors Act and the repair of the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park seawalls is part of nearly $500 million in planned infrastructure improvements at the National Mall leading up to the 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026.
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