Thursday, May 03, 2007

Gateway Arch escape hatch?

Arch escape


As you can see from this picture from Microsoft Live Search, there are a couple of escape hatches atop the 630 foot Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis MO.  But, where would you escape too?   Could it be access to a giant slide to the ground… and surely your death?  No.  Actually there is a beacon on top of the Arch that needs to be changed every so often and that is what the doors are for.   Not sure why there are two of them.   Maybe they’re ventilation units.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walking out to that beacon with no safety rail would be one scary job.

Tim Streisel said...

Those two grilles are the for ventilation units. There is only one hatch, and its nearly at the top just south of the anti-collision light. You can service the light from the hatch without having to crawl completely out onto the top.

Tim