Walk-on access to the USS Arizona Memorial won’t be restored by the end of March, as previously announced by the National Park Service, and it may be many more months before access resumes, officials said.

The complexity of repairs to a 105-foot floating dock that serves as a boat disembarkation site is adding more and more time to the predicted reopening.

The timeline raises the prospect of far more than a year of non-access to the revered sunken battleship and grave for more than 900 men, including a second busy summer season without the ability to step foot on the Arizona Memorial. Access was curtailed in May.

Some 4,000 to 5,000 visitors head out to Pearl Harbor every day to see one of the most popular attractions in the state.

A series of expected reopening dates was given by the park service — not “before Oct. 1,” before Dec. 7 and most recently, the end of March.

“Over the past 10 months, National Park Service staff and partners have taken an aggressive approach to develop and implement an expedited plan to repair the damage to the visitor loading ramp on the USS Arizona Memorial,” Jacqueline Ashwell, superintendent of the Arizona Memorial, said in a statement today. “Despite our best efforts and optimism, our previously estimated timeline for restoring access to the USS Arizona Memorial has been delayed and it will not reopen this March.”

She added: “I am frustrated, as all of us are. I can promise you that every person working on this project is working as hard as they can, and are dedicated to reopening the memorial to the public as soon as we can.”

A contract for the repairs is expected be awarded in March, she said.

On Oct. 29, the park service said in a release that it expected the USS Arizona Memorial dock repair project “to be complete by March 2019, allowing visitor access to the memorial to resume.”

The design phase of the project had been completed at that time, “allowing for the development of a more precise timeline for the repair process.”

The park service said then that, “unfortunately, it will not be completed in time for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on Dec. 7,” adding that “since May, the NPS has worked with its partners in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force to ensure repairs are made as quickly as possible with special consideration given to the national significance of the site.”

Access to the USS Arizona Memorial was suspended on May 6 when minor damage to the exterior of the structure became visible at the main point of entry, the park service said previously.

“A more thorough examination revealed that the damage was caused by a failure of the anchoring system for the boat dock adjacent to the USS Arizona Memorial,” the park service said. “This placed extreme pressure on the loading bridge that provides overwater passage for visitors from the boat dock to the USS Arizona Memorial. Access was curtailed immediately to ensure visitor safety and prevent additional damage to the memorial.”

The floating pier, held in place by six chains and concrete blocks sitting in the mud of 40-foot-deep Pearl Harbor, shifted. King tides in 2017 might have had an impact, officials said.

The park service said as a result that it was pursuing a new fix — anchoring the dock with “helical” steel pilings that screw into bedrock on the seafloor.