Army estimates that Trump's military parade could cost $16 million in damage to Washington streets
The cost to repair Washington, D.C., streets after the upcoming military parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary could cost as much as $16 million, according to U.S. military officials.
That's part of an estimated $45 million total cost for the June 14 military parade, which coincides with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. The cost estimates have fluctuated as planning continues.
In an interview with NBC News' 'Meet the Press' earlier this month, the president defended the cost of the parade, calling it 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.'
'We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it,' Trump added.
The parade will be part of a massive celebration in downtown Washington that includes a number of events, historical displays and a demonstration by the Army's famous parachute team, the Golden Knights.
The parade itself will include about 130 vehicles, including 28 M1A1 tanks, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 28 Stryker armored fighting vehicles and a number of vehicles towing artillery launchers. More than 50 helicopters will also participate in an 'extensive flyover' in the nation's capital.
The event will also bring more than 9,000 soldiers from around the country to Washington, about 7,000 of whom will march in the parade itself. The event will also include at least eight Army bands, and some troops will ride on the nearly three dozen horses and two mules expected to march as part of a historical section of the parade.
The soldiers visiting Washington for the parade will be housed in government buildings, including the Department of Agriculture building and a General Services Administration building. A few thousand others will bunk at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The troops are expected to eat military rations called meals ready to eat, or MREs, during their stay.
Trump had long wanted a military parade during his first term. But it was canceled over concerns about cost and the optics of a military parade in the nation's capital that could be seen as akin to the kind commonly seen in Moscow, Beijing or Pyongyang, North Korea. The inclusion of tanks in a potential parade also drew concerns about what their tracks might do to the streets of Washington.
The Army is preparing for the potential harm to Washington streets with several measures it hopes will avert damage. These include using 1-inch-thick steel plates, some as long as 20 feet, at places along the parade route where the tanks must turn and where those turns could cause the most damage to the streets. The addition of the steel plates is expected to cost the Army about $3 million, officials said.
The tanks are also being outfitted with new track pads to create separation between the metal track and the ground, the officials said. Army officials said they believe these measures will keep the damage to a minimum and bring the cost of repairing any damage down significantly.
'We are targeting those areas that we have concerns, which primarily are areas where the tracked vehicles are going to have to turn sharply,' said Col. Jesse Curry, the executive officer for the Army Corps of Engineers. 'We are not particularly concerned that this staging area and the routes have been selected to really minimize the risk from weight and damage. But really, those areas where tanks have to turn, particularly the areas where the surface of the pavement, we typically receive an exaggerated level of stress.'
The parade route itself will follow Constitution Avenue along the National Mall from 23rd Street to around 15th Street.
The roughly 50 aircraft will include Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, including several special operations variants. Also planned to fly are several historic aircraft, including World War II-era B-25s, P-51s and Vietnam-era helicopters.
The parade is expected to last roughly 90 minutes and will be broken into eras: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Global War on Terror, the modern Army and the future. The Army's Golden Knights will jump during the presentation about the Army's future and plan to deliver an American flag to Trump.
In the early-May 'Meet the Press' interview, Trump defended himself against claims that the military parade was for his birthday, reiterating that the Army's 250th birthday and Flag Day are also on June 14.
'My birthday happens to be on Flag Day,' he said. 'I view it for Flag Day, not necessarily my birthday. Somebody put it together. But no, I think we're going to do something on June 14, maybe, or somewhere around there. But I think June 14. It's a very important day.'
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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