Hours extended at Visitor Control Center
If you live in Highland Falls or Fort Montgomery and don’t have a visitor’s pass — Local Access Credentials — to West Point, you might want to consider getting one soon.
Starting July 22, all visitors who don’t have passes between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. will be required to turn around at whichever gate they are trying to enter post, head to the Visitors Center and then apply for a pass at the Visitor Control Center (downstairs in the Visitors Center). The passes which are extended to Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery residents are typically laminated ‘guest’ passes, valid for one year.
The extended hours when passes will be required — as opposed to getting onto post with just a drivers license after regular business hours — will bring West Point into compliance with Department of the Army requirements, West Point Garrison Commander Col. Cecil Marson said.
West Point officials expect some delays at the gates as the new requirements are implemented.
“We ask for patience and assistance in passing this new information along to members of the community, visiting family members, alumni and friends of West Point,” Lt. Col. Brian Heverly, director of Emergency Services at West Point, said.
This change impacts anyone who wants to visit cadets, friends, family, the hospital, sporting events, concerts and other programs ‘not deemed special events’. Special events can be set by the superintendent of West Point and currently include: the Fourth of July and Labor Day concerts, graduation, home football games, ticketed sporting events like hockey and lacrosse, and Eisenhower Hall entertainment events and concerts.
It also affects delivery drivers for local restaurants and shops, and even those who simply walk onto post from Highland Falls, for exercise purposes.
If you try to enter West Point after 10 p.m. without a pass, it will be only at Stony Lonesome, and, after a background check is conducted there, only a 24-hour pass will be provided. Future visits will require a regular pass obtained at the Visitors Center. The Visitor Control Center is open Monday – Sunday 6 a.m. – 10 p.m.
The background checks are done through the National Crime Information Center. To apply for access there is a form that must be completed and a valid state-issued drivers license or passport is required. There are other requirements for certain individuals, including for anyone under 18, where a school ID card that contains a photo is enough.
For more information on the requirements, visit https://westpoint.edu/visiting-west-point or call the Visitor Control Center at 938-0390 or 938-0392.
