The project, which will cost $1 million, will not only replace lighting fixtures with new high-tech lights but also will reset stones at the base of the wall and realign the walkway's cobblestone paving.

The memorial, dedicated in 1982, is said to be the most-visited memorial in Washington, drawing 3.5 million visitors each year. Upkeep for the memorial is overseen by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, a non-profit organization funded by Congress.

Although the design of the memorial is simple -- a black granite wall inscribed with the names of U.S. military personnel who died in Vietnam that seems to rise up out of the ground and then sink back down -- its care and maintenance can get complicated.

"The way the grade is connected to the wall is so subtle that the slopes of the walkways were measured to a thousandth of an inch," said J.C. Cummings, an architect who has worked on the memorial since its conception more than 20 years ago. "It's a very highly refined project."

Previous maintenance tasks for the memorial have included repairing hairline cracks in the wall and a walkway renovation in 1992.

The current lighting project is by far the biggest project undertaken by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the National Park Service, said Jan C. Scruggs, president and founder of the fund.

When the wall was built, it was not intended to be visited at night, said Cummings. But the popularity of the memorial was greater than anyone expected, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund teamed with the Cooper-Lecky Partnership and Claude Engle Associates to create a lighting system.

Creating a setup that would evenly illuminate 144 panels of varying height with reflective surfaces and low-relief lettering proved to be a challenge. The first lighting system featured custom-made fixtures with hand-adjusted reflectors to get the right angle on each section of the wall.

But after nearly 20 years, Scruggs said, the system became unreliable, requiring weekly maintenance checks.

Complicating the lighting problem was the fact that the nature of the actual fixtures made it nearly impossible to remove them for cleaning and repairs. So in 2000 engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff determined that the entire system would need to be replaced.

For the new lighting design, the fund and the Park Service hired engineering, lighting and construction firms including STV Incorporated, George Sexton and Associates and Grunley-Walsh Management. The late J. Carter Brown of the Fine Arts Commission then approved a proposal.

The new lights, said Scruggs, will cast a warm white light instead of yellow. The new aluminum housing, designed for hardiness and easy removal, will be flush with the ground, and the light will be angled and softened with new internal screens and state-of-the-art reflectors.

Although closing half the memorial has upset some visitors -- the western wall will be closed from August to October -- Scruggs apologized and said that the months between Memorial Day and Veterans Day are the only times to do it.

Once the project is finished, said Scruggs, the final product will be well worth the effort.

The scaffolding and construction on the eastern wall of the memorial did not seem to deter visitors, who on Wednesday were gathering silently at the western wall to remember friends and loved ones who died as a result of the Vietnam War.

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