When the USS Midway (CV-41) was an active-duty ship with the U.S. Navy, it was not required to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When Midway became a museum, however, it was a different story.
Opening to visitors in 2004, the ship immediately became classified as a public accommodation. To ensure equitable access to cultural, historical and educational programming, Midway was required to provide equal access to facilities, exhibits and employment, regardless of a person’s physical, sensory or cognitive abilities.
To ensure ADA compliance and provide visitors the highest degree of accessibility to the museum, two passenger elevators were installed to raise guests from Navy Pier to the hangar deck, and from hangar deck to the flight deck.
“Guests have a lot of ground to cover when visiting Midway,” said Mark Berlin, Midway’s director of operations. “Our elevators allow them to easily travel between decks even if they are able to use any of our custom stairways. We have also become a very popular family destination and have seen many more strollers come aboard over the years.”
With both elevators approaching the end of their service lives, a new elevator was installed, and it’s now known as the Brow 4 Elevator.
“Midway began investigating a replacement elevator on the pier several years ago,” said Len Santiago, Midway’s chief engineer. “Following our assessment, we submitted our request for a coastal development permit to the California Coastal Commission in 2018. After receiving approval, the project then required extensive coordination with various local, state and federal regulatory agencies, accessibility specialists and waterfront officials to ensure the project complied with the necessary building, accessibility, environmental and historic codes and requirements.”
The project was far from simple, as it involved extensive engineering, planning and coordination to integrate a modern, ADA-compliant lifting system into a historic 81-year-old aircraft carrier. Engineering investigations and analyses determined how a new tower could be safely connected to both the pier and Midway without adversely affecting the ship. Structural engineers also had to account for tidal currents, waterfront environmental conditions and ongoing public operations.
“One of the critical challenges identified during the design and construction planning was the constant movement of the ship itself,” said Len. “Because the new elevator and brow connection require precise alignment between the pier and the ship, we recognized that the vessel’s lateral and vertical movement during daily tidal shifts could be a potential risk to long-term operations. To address this, we installed additional bollards on Navy Pier to increase the number of mooring lines holding the ship to the pier. This has already significantly reduced how much the ship moves, especially during strong tidal swings.”
When construction finally began in August 2025, the project included cutting a massive hole into the pier to ensure the elevator would be flush with the pier surface, relocating utilities, electrical and communication system upgrades, fire-life-safety enhancements, and the fabrication and erection of the elevator tower and stairwell.
The elevator was manufactured by the elevator and escalator division of Mitsubishi Electric as the company met Midway’s stringent requirement for consistent reliability in a demanding, high-use environment, as well as possessing a very responsive maintenance and support service programs.
“It was critical that our engineering partner was capable of delivering a highly specialized solution that could meet the operational, environmental and regulatory demands of our floating museum,” said Len. “Mitsubishi demonstrated their ability to engineer around our constraints rather than giving us a basic off-the-shelf solution.”
The new elevator opened just in time for the museum’s Fourth of July celebration.
“I’ve waited a long time to see this elevator be installed,” said Mark. “With only one elevator serving as both the way onto and off the ship, we often experience bottlenecks on our entry brow on busy days as guests had to cross each other to access the elevator. Now with two pier elevators, we eliminate the cross-traffic issue and have a backup to use if one goes down.”
“The new pier-to-hangar deck passenger elevator significantly improves both guest accessibility and operational capability for Midway,” said Len. “For visitors, the elevator provides more reliable and expanded ADA access. Operationally, the elevator gives us major improvement in event logistics, enabling materials, supplies and event equipment to be transported between pier and ship.”
Midway’s existing passenger elevators will also be replaced in the near future.
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