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Pentagon Project: Under Budget, Ahead of Schedule
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

About 80 percent of the limestone facade work on the west side of the Pentagon had been completed by May 14, 2002. The last block was placed June 11, 2002, nine months to the day after a terrorist-hijacked airliner slammed into the building.
Image Credit: DoD Photo.

From the beginning, the reconstruction and renovation project has consistently been ahead of schedule, Evey said. Construction crews began work Oct. 18.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Early Tuesday morning many daily commuters on Route 27 hit their brakes as they passed the site of last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Some even stopped. For the first time since then, the lights were on inside the reconstructed building.

"For 273 days, every single night, we've had spotlights on the outside of the building," said Walker Lee Evey, renovation program manager. "In many instances, we had people working up on the side of the building in those spotlights. Tonight, the lights go off. The story outside the building is over. We've completed that work.

"The story now moves to the inside of the building," he said. "That's where the challenge is. That's where our success must be achieved."

In another 92 days -- by Sept. 11, he said at a Pentagon news briefing -- offices destroyed at the point of impact in the attack would be furnished, occupied and back in business.

"We have already moved about 2,000 people back into the building, in portions of Wedge 1 and Wedge 2," he said. These areas were badly damaged by fire, smoke and water during the attack.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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