9/11 Memorial reaches major construction milestone (UPDATED X2)
The 9/11 Memorial pools - each about an acre in size - are now completely framed in steel. 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said the construction achievement is "a true marker of progress at the World Trade Center site with these two pools helping to fulfill a promise to pay tribute and to rebuild the void left in the wake of the 9/11 attacks."
The Memorial is on track to open in 2011.
Currently, nearly 100 percent of the steel for the project has been installed and nearly 60 percent of concrete has been poured. When construction's completed, the total amount of steel will equal 8,151 tons - that's more than what was used to build the Eiffel Tower. The total amount of concrete will be 49,000 cubic yards. And in the coming weeks, the installation of granite lining the Memorial pools will begin. Now that's progress.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is building the Memorial and Museum on behalf of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said today that the opening of the 9/11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the attacks is the agency's "highest priority."
The Memorial pools are expected to be the largest man-made waterfalls in the country, pumping 52,000 gallons of recycled water per minute. The mammoth pools will sit within the original footprint of the fallen Twin Towers.
UPDATE: Here's the report on the memorial steel in the Epoch Times. The story was also reported in the New York Daily News.
By Lynn Rasic, Sr. Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for the 9/11 Memorial
9/11 Memorial Museum Director Alice M. Greenwald recently wrote in Curator: The Museum Journal about the challenges of building a museum in a location where thousands of people were killed in an unprecedented event that altered the course of humanity. The
The events of 9/11 inspired many things, from charitable donations to a need to volunteer. But they also inspired a wealth of artwork documenting what transpired before, on and after 9/11. So many people were move