Although this winter has been unseasonably cold and ridiculously snowy, this does not seem to have slowed the trajectory of The Capital Wheel's construction.
"There was snow and ice in January and February and that set us back three weeks," said Aric Dreher of the construction team working on the wheel. "But we are on schedule. We are where we wanted to be when looking at the schedule last year."
This means that the massive white observation wheel itself is now visible coming from I-295 and that the gondolas and LED lights are being installed. Shockingly Dreher says that once the gondolas arrive from Switzerland (via Baltimore) that they only take ten minutes to install and that the most time intensive part is actually offloading the truck.
So with the large components connected and the gondolas (which can comfortably fit six people) arriving for easy attachment, Dreher says that much of what remains before the late Capital Wheel's late May opening are the finishes: the concrete platform, the loading deck and pieces that will truly make the wheel a tourist attraction. In fact, the four gondolas that are currently on the wheel actually took a quick test trip to the top as everyone left the dock.
· site">The Capital Wheel at National Harbor [Official Site]
· All Capital Wheel Coverage [CDC]
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