Downtown workers had better get used to walking around — rather than through — McPherson Square. A project to spruce up the park began three months ago and might only be halfway done.
Fences went up in mid-June, closing much of the park. Improvements will include new sidewalks, benches, flower gardens, grass and an irrigation system. In addition, the fence around the statue of Civil War Gen. James B. McPherson will be repainted. National Park Service spokesman Bill Line said the work isn’t expected to be completed until the end of the year.
The work has a price tag of $419,000, Line said. The park project is one of hundreds nationwide being paid for by federal stimulus funds. To qualify for those dollars, Line said, projects need to be in a high-priority location for the National Park Service, generate a large number of jobs and benefit the public.
Line said three more D.C. projects — at the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and World War I Memorial — are also being paid for with stimulus funds for a total cost of $56.6 million.
Renovation of the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument will begin in mid-October at a cost of $31.5 million and will take up to two years to complete. The new pool will allow recirculation of water, and walkways will be added so grass will not be damaged.
Reconstruction of the Tidal Basin seawall at the Jefferson Memorial began last fall. That project, which will cost nearly $18 million, is scheduled for completion in early spring.
A stone plaza addition to the World War I Memorial will begin in December and take about a year to complete. Algae and water stains will be removed as part of the project, which is expected to cost about $7 million.
Line said more than 25 million people visit the National Mall each year, and improvements and additions to these popular sites will only make them more attractive to admirers.
“We believe that these all are ways in which the stimulus package … [is] going to help beautify and help make more attractive the National Mall,” Line said.
Some $750 million in federal stimulus funds are paying for 800 park projects nationwide.
