[6/10/04]For the first time since before Sept. 11, 2001, public tours of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterways Experiment station site will be given Tuesday.

The special tours, which have been planned to mark the 75th anniversary of the unique research facility off Halls Ferry Road, come as tourists around the country are flocking back to the nation’s engineering marvels the dams, bridges and other structures that had seen increased security and lightened visitor traffic since the terrorist attacks.

Buses for the guided WES tours will leave from the site’s headquarters building off Halls Ferry every 20 minutes from 4 until 8 p.m.

The tours will be free and last about 90 minutes.

WES was closed to the public following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks due to security concerns at the large Corps of Engineers research complex.

The WES tour will include stops at all four WES laboratories: Coastal and Hydraulics, Geotechnical and Structures, Environmental and Information Technology.

Tour stops will include a scale model of a river project, military engineering research on airfield pavements and support to our soldiers in the field, fisheries and environmental research and the latest computer facilities.

Following the destructive 1927 Mississippi River flood, the Corps realized the need for a hydraulics laboratory for flood-protection research. WES was established in 1929 by Chief of Engineers Maj. Gen. Edgar Jadwin’s order to establish a hydraulics laboratory near the Mississippi River.

Today, WES is an internationally famous research facility. In 1999, the Corps created the ERDC by combining all Corps of Engineers research operations into a single command. ERDC consists of seven laboratories at four geographical sites, with over 2,000 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual research program of approximately $700 million. It conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas for the Department of Defense and the nation.

From its modest beginning as a small hydraulics laboratory, WES research now spans the globe.

The tour is open to people of all ages. Identification including a photograph will be required for vehicles to enter the site from Halls Ferry.

Authorities at dams and bridges also have cited a rebound in tourism since it dropped off following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Tourists are returning to Hoover Dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada. Paid visits dropped from 1.2 million to about 850,000 after the 2001 terrorist attacks, said spokesman Bob Walsh. This year, more than 960,000 visitors are expected.

More than 363,000 people toured the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington’s visitor center last year, and officials expect at least as many in 2004. Visits to the dam dropped 20 percent after September 2001, but have slowly climbed back to pre-attack levels, said spokesman Craig Sprankle.

Despite the restrictions, people still flock to the structure that was dubbed “the eighth wonder of the world” when it was completed in the early days of World War II.