Editing Gateway Arch (section)

==Maintenance==
[[File:St louis arch exterior welds.jpg|right|thumb |Welds on the arch's skin seal gaps between 4-by-8-foot sheets of stainless steel. Graffiti is scratched on the lower five to seven feet of the monument.]]
The first act of vandalism was committed in June 1968: the vandals etched their names on various parts of the arch. In all, $10,000 was spent that year to repair damage from vandalism.<ref name="Corrigan"/> The arch was first targeted by [[graffiti artist]]s on March 5, 1969.<ref name="Arch timeline" />

In 2010, signs of corrosion were reported at the upper regions of the stainless steel surface. Carbon steel in the north leg has been rusting, possibly a result of water accumulation, a side effect of leaky [[welding|welds]] in an environment that often causes rain to enter the skin of the structure. Maintenance workers use mops<ref name="Pistor">{{cite news |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_73704097-9a47-5d28-8eb1-0f5c76db8214.html |title=Arch corrosion continues unabated |last=Pistor |first=Nicholas J.C. |date=September 9, 2010 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |access-date=February 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213112847/http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_73704097-9a47-5d28-8eb1-0f5c76db8214.html |archive-date=December 13, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and a temporary setup of water containers to ease the problem.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_75095ba4-2d7d-5811-b4f9-a7ce769ddb0d.html |title=Gateway Arch showing rust and decay |last=Pistor |first=Nicholas J. C. |date=August 22, 2010 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |access-date=February 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117203643/http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_75095ba4-2d7d-5811-b4f9-a7ce769ddb0d.html |archive-date=January 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to NPS documents, the corrosion and rust pose no safety concerns.<ref name="Pistor" />

A more comprehensive study of the corrosion had been suggested as early as 2006 by architectural specialists studying the Arch, and reiterated in a 2010 Historic Structure Report. In September 2010, the NPS granted [[Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.]] a contract for a structural study that would "gather data about the condition of the Arch to enable experts to develop and implement the right long-term solutions."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nps.gov/jeff/learn/news/sructural-study-on-gateway-arch.htm |title=National Park Service Awards Contract For Structural Study on Gateway Arch |date=September 21, 2010 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=February 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628222358/http://www.nps.gov/jeff/parknews/sructural-study-on-gateway-arch.htm |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Stain samples were taken from the west face of the Arch on October 21, 2014, to determine the best way to clean it. The cleaning will cost about $340,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/worker-scales-west-face-of-gateway-arch/image_3b081677-e9b7-5e48-86c1-865525f94957.html |title=Worker scales west face of Gateway Arch |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=October 21, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1984, structural engineer Tibor Szegezdy told ''Smithsonian Magazine'' that the Arch could stand "considerably less than a thousand years" before collapsing in a wind storm.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chiles |first1=James R. |title=Engineers versus the eons, or How long will our monuments last? |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/barnes/grandcoulee/chiles.html |work=Smithsonian Magazine |date=March 1984 |access-date=May 24, 2024 |archive-date=March 19, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020319024030/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/barnes/grandcoulee/chiles.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>