Panel Votes $8.4-Million Plaza to Increase Security at Capitol

A House subcommittee voted Thursday to give the East Front of the Capitol an $8.4-million security face lift, replacing the black asphalt parking lot with a pedestrian plaza guarded by hidden steel anti-terrorist barricades.

“Our purpose here is to increase the level of security for the Capitol complex without stripping the general public of easy access to their seat of government,” said Rep. Robert Young (D-Mo.), who introduced the bill.

“Essentially, the plan creates a beautiful, functional pedestrian park, complete with concrete tubs, flowers and fountains, and converts parking spaces into a people park,” said Young, chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation subcommittee on public buildings and grounds, which approved the measure by voice vote.

30-Inch Steel Blades

Among the security features of the plan are two, 30-inch curved steel blades that would be raised hydraulically from their hiding places in the ground at the main north and south entrances to the Capitol grounds to foil an attempt to ram the Capitol with a suicide truck or car bomb.

Wooden posts would be erected along the perimeter of the plaza, and permanent, concrete guardhouses with lift barriers--similar to those used at railway crossings--would replace the wooden booths at the entrance to the north and south driveways.

Loss of Parking Spaces

George White, the Capitol architect whose staff developed the design, said removal of the asphalt parking lot would mean the loss of 326 spaces for senior House and Senate aides, who would be assigned spaces elsewhere on or near the Capitol grounds.

Also eliminated would be unsightly concrete road barricades and the parking of flatbed garbage and dump trucks on the curving driveways around the Capitol during nights and weekends to block the entry of unauthorized vehicles.

The result would be a more aesthetically pleasing plaza for the millions of tourists who visit the Capitol annually, White said.