September 10, 2010

Greater Than Zero

On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Ground Zero has been in the news a lot due to plans to build a Muslim Community Center two and half blocks from the site.  While plans for that project are mired in debate, there is remarkable progress at Ground Zero itself.  


Construction at Ground Zero has been going full tilt for nearly two years.  However, due to the complicated multiple uses of the site (transportation, office, memorial, museum, retail) most of that work has been underground getting the pieces of this momunmental puzzle to fit.  But results are now visible above street level and they are impressive.  The new World Trade Center has risen nearly 20 stories high, the outlines of the memorial pools are now clearly visible, WTC 4's impressive lobby is framed and they recently planted the first of more than 400 white oak trees on the former site of the Twin Towers.  


There's a great interactive feature in the TIMES today which give a birds-eye, time-lapse view of the site and provides some drawings of how it will look when it's all completed in 2014.  In the meantime, the Memorial Pools will open to the public a year from now on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, with the underground museum set to open in 2012.