Visitors to Carlsbad Caverns National Park are being asked for patience and understanding while waiting to get on an elevator in the Visitor Center.
The park's two large elevators generally used to ferry passengers into the cave continue to be out of commission due to a renovation project that is months over schedule. Now, park officials have found the two smaller secondary elevators that were pressed into service need the cables replaced.
To replace the cables, a contingency plan has been put it place by park official to get visitors into the cave.
Starting Jan. 30 through March 8, on weekdays, elevator service into cavern will be limited to a few hours a day while the small elevators undergo routine maintenance to keep them running safely and smoothly.
On weekends and holidays, one elevator will be available throughout the day.
"The smaller elevators have been working like busy little beavers in handling all the visitor loads for the past year," park superintendent John Benjamin said. "Like keeping your car running well, elevator motors and mechanisms need routine maintenance and repairs. We wish we didn't have to inconvenience park visitors, so we scheduled the work for the months with the fewest visitors."
Benjamin said under normal circumstances the two small elevators would be shut down for maintenance work. But in doing so, it would eliminate access into the cave for many who are unable to enter through the natural entrance and descend into the cave on foot.
Constructed in 1955, the primary elevators traveled for 55 years on the original structural steel and guiderails, which rusted and weakened after decades of exposure to the humid and corrosive environment inside the limestone shaft.
Numerous unanticipated difficulties caused work delays as White Construction Group, of Castle Rock, Colo., replaced 154 steel beams in the elevator hoistway. Complexity of the tasks and challenges in working in the narrow and deep hoistway increased the delays.
Benjamin said a projection for the completion of the large elevator project is now tentatively set for sometime in the spring. But in the meantime, the safety of the secondary small work-horse elevators, and the passengers they carry, are foremost.
"We thought those cables on the small elevators would work two or three more years. But we are so conservative with the safety of those things and believe at this point we have to replace the elevator cables. These are safety requirements that we are not going to violate," Benjamin said, adding that under normal circumstances, the parks maintenance staff would work on replacing the cables. But time is of the essence.
"This is a critical time and we have contracted with an experienced company to do the work. It will cost taxpayers a little more, but we think it is worth having the work done as quickly as possible. If we get into some kid of hitch, we have the experts on site," Benjamin said. "We need to get this work completed as soon as possible. Our first big flood of spring break visitors starts March 12."
He said Schindler Elevator Corporation, of El Paso, Texas, was awarded the contract to perform the maintenance and repairs on the secondary elevators. The company, he noted, is known world-wide.
The park's facility manager Chuck Burton said limiting the operation of the small elevators is essential during maintenance.
"We cannot be running (the elevators) while personnel are working in the hoistway," Burton explained. "Safety is of the utmost importance. The elevators have always been safe to use, but we want to be sure they are in top shape and get the service they should have."
Benjamin said with the limited use of the secondary elevators, park rangers will offer additional programs in the visitor center and the lunch room (below the surface) while visitors wait for the elevators. He urged visitors who are able, to reduce their wait time and consider starting a walking tour through the natural entrance. On completion of the walking tour, they can return to the surface by elevator.