WASHINGTON (AP) — Surveyors are checking to make sure that the Washington Monument is still 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall.
A review last year at the base of the monument found that it had not sunk into the ground after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake damaged parts of it in August 2011. But surveyors want to make sure it’s still the same height, and they can only access the peak of the monument when it’s covered in scaffolding, as it is now.
The goal of the survey Thursday is to establish a definitive height that can be used as a reference point. Results won’t be available for 2 to 3 months.
The measurement is being done by the National Geodetic Survey and is the first of its kind since 1999.
