A proposed visitors center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial would tell the stories of more than 58,000 names on the black granite wall, and it would be built underground to avoid cluttering the Mall, said a memorial fund group Wednesday.
Congress passed a moratorium on new memorials or visitors centers on the Mall in 2003, but the Vietnam Veterans Memorial visitor center is exempt because it does not obstruct views of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Post reported.
The building must be designed "with the rationale that the existing historical sightlines remain intact," said Bill Line, a spokesman for the National Park Service.
"There has been a need for a visitors center for a long time," said Jan C. Scruggs, the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which proposed the plan.
Some believe there isn't enough room on the Mall to build the visitors center.
"The Mall is already overcrowded," said Judy Scott Feldman, president of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall.
The National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission all must approve the plan before construction can begin.
The project would cost $40 million in private funds. Construction of the proposed visitors center would begin in three years and take 18 to 24 months.
Two other visitors centers exist on the mall at the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Another is being built near the U.S. Capitol.
