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No more than 5 minutes for visitors in
Statue of Liberty's crown

     New York: Visitors to the crown of Statue of Liberty, after it reopens on July 4, will not get more than five minutes to enjoy the panoramic view from the historic site, according to reports. It is also said that not more than eight people will be allowed to enter the crown at one time. The revelation comes just days after US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the crown, closed after the 9/11 terror attacks, would reopen to the public for two years and will again close for safety modifications for up to two years. Commissioned by the National Parks Service and executed by Baltimore-based Hughes Associates Inc., the new fire safety and emergency evacuation study has revealed that about 240 people could safely make the trip in a day. "Given a delay of [five minutes] in the crown, [it] was determined that the maximum throughput is roughly 30 visitors per hour," the New York Daily News quoted the report as saying. Salazar has said that visitors will be allowed up the spiralling 168 steps to the crown in groups, and will be accompanied by a guide. The report also pointed out that a 2001 engineering study, which was conducted when the crown was still open, had concluded that although there were fire protection concerns, they weren't serious enough to limit public access to the crown..
-May 11, 2009

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