The Statue of Liberty, closed to the public after the Sept. 11 attacks because of security concerns, reopens Tuesday, but visitors will not be allowed up into the famed crown.
For the first time, visitors will need reservations for tours, to be taken at specific times. This is an effort to eliminate the hourslong lines that marked most trips to tour the 118-year-old statue, but the other restrictions are for security reasons.
The public will be able to view the statue's interior - it stretches 151 feet high - through a new glass ceiling at roughly the level of Lady Liberty's feet. But visitors will no longer be able to climb the cramped, circular metal staircase into the crown.
Liberty Island reopened three months after the 2001 attacks, but the statue has remained closed while federal officials tried to create a more secure system. Despite $7-million in security and lighting upgrades, safety concerns remain. Before the attacks, the statue had 4-million visitors a year. Attendance has dropped 45 percent since the island reopened.
The first of the timed ranger-led tours, which last about an hour, begins at 8:45 a.m., and the last one begins at 3:45 p.m. Visitors without a timed reservation can take self-guided tours around the island and go to the gift shop. The reopened pedestal contains the Statue of Liberty Museum, which showcases the statue's original torch. It was replaced during the 1986 centennial restoration.
Many of the changes are designed to make it easier to evacuate the statue in case of fire. They include improved lighting, a new fire suppression system and fire walls, and an additional staircase for exiting the pedestal and Fort Wood, the old stone fort the statue rests on.
IF YOU GO
To reserve a ranger-led tour, call toll-free 1-866-782-8834. There is a fee to reserve a tour by phone, but beginning in September, visitors will be able to make reservations online.
There are fees to take the round-trip ferry to either Ellis Island or Liberty Island, but there are no fees to visit either National Park Service site.
Because of the two security checks now made of all visitors headed to the islands, it is recommended that those holding timed-tour tickets arrive two hours in advance of their tour.
For more information, go to the Statue of Liberty Web site, www.nps.gov/stli
