Trump Fixing Reflecting Pool Under Budget

Trump said he rejected ​a federal proposal that he said would have cost roughly $350 million and taken years to complete, instead opting for a $1.9 ​million renovation that will take less than two weeks.

It underwent major renovations between 2010 and 2012, funded by $34 million from an Obama-era economic stimulus package. The project addressed "water quality and watertightness issues" and also redesigned the pool to be "shallower and more aesthetically pleasing," according to Sika USA, one of the firms involved. But it wasn't a perfect fix, according to the Department of the Interior. A budget report from the 2023 fiscal year, making the case for further renovations, says workers on the 2012 project installed the wrong size water system pipes, which have "continuously broken and failed due to soil pressure."

While previous estimates to fix ... to prior National Park Service planning documents, Trump said his team is completing the work in two weeks for a fraction of the cost....

He estimated that renovating the pool will take about a week and cost roughly $1.5 million. He said contractors have begun working on the stones, and started laying down its new "industrial-grade" surface on Thursday.

Trump said he went to inspect the ... granite and replacing it with stone as part of a three-year renovation that would cost $300 million....

Mr. Trump said on Thursday that the project was already underway to renovate the reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long and has been the site of many historic events, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Trump said the renovation will take two weeks and cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.Will Oliver / EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images · "Right now, it's got no water in it because it was in terrible shape.

That was in lieu of proposals considered by the NPS that would cost upward of $300 million and involve the removal and repair of the historic granite body of the pool, which has historically suffered leaks, Trump said.

President Donald Trump this week unveiled his rapid project to resurface the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool, saying that a contractor convinced him to use “American Flag Blue” to cover the pool’s basin.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared an update Friday of the ongoing installation of an “American flag blue” floor in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “Renovations are underway!” Burgum…

The president has been floating the idea that he would redo the Reflecting Pool since last year.

Trump saved $298M fixing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool quickly and affordably.