MAMMOTH CAVE — A 65-foot metal tower that serves as a connector route from the lower historic cave trail to the upper historic cave trail allowing the two-mile, two-hour Historic Cave tour to be a loop route was replaced at Mammoth Cave National Park recently.
The tower was more than 50 years old and had started to deteriorate.
“It was built back in the early days of the park service’s management of the park,” said Vickie Carson, public information specialist for the national park. “It was one of those major improvements in how to get people through the cave.”
Periodic inspections of the tower showed wear and corrosion.
“We would repaint it and protect it as we could, but it was just getting old,” Carson said.
Work to replace the tower began in January, with crews working double shifts of 10 hours each to dismantle the tower and take it out through the top of the Mammoth Dome section of the cave. The job took about four days to complete.
“This was a huge undertaking and a tremendous accomplishment for the park,” said Superintendent Patrick Reed. “We are very pleased with the finished product. It is more than just a stairway; it greatly enhances the visitor’s experience.”
According to a press release, it took 1,350 80-pound bags of concrete, 3,500 stainless steel bolts and 35,000 pounds of structural steel, varying in length from two to 21 feet to replace the tower.
Materials were trucked to the cave entrance, hand carried down 60 steps and loaded onto a custom-made wagon, wheeled through large and small passageways for more than one-quarter mile, then maneuvered through Crevice Pit – the size of standard doorway – and lowered 200 feet to the floor of Mammoth Dome.
“While the tower work was going on, the tours would use what we call the upper levels of the Historic tour, which would be staying in mostly Broadway and Audubon avenues,” Carson said. “They didn’t go down to Bottomless Pit or to Fat Man’s Misery.”
Mike Adams, chief of interpretation at the park, said the Mammoth Dome is an “awesome room.”
“The old tower was merely a conveyance. The new tower provides an amazing view of the cave. It will ‘wow’ our visitors. The larger staircase was designed with safety in mind too. Previously, if we had to carry someone out of the cave, we had to haul a stretcher up the steps with the head or foot extending beyond the handrail. A stretcher will now fit between the rails.”
The project cost $2 million to complete, according to the press release.
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Replacing metal tower required disassembly first
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