Los Angeles Times: Construction to Start at Ground Zero
[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap_us13may09.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dtopus[/url]
Construction to Start at Ground Zero
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
May 9 2002, 7:39 AM PDT
NEW YORK -- The discovery of body parts has slowed to a trickle, the rubble is
almost gone and soon all that will remain is a pit seven stories deep.
Within a month, the painstaking, around-the-clock effort to remove debris and
search for remains at the World Trade Center site will be finished and the focus
will turn to building a new cultural, business and transit center.
Work already has begun on rebuilding the commuter train and subway stations
demolished by the fallen twin towers, which left an estimated 1.7 million tons
of rubble piled 10 stories high at the 15-block site.
No human remains other than small bones have been found in the past two weeks,
and city officials predict the recovery operation will end later this month.
Fewer than 120,000 tons of rubble are left.
Lt. John Ryan, who oversees the recovery of human remains for the Port Authority
police, said the slowdown has been discouraging in some ways.
"I guess it's just a matter of the site winding down," Ryan said. "There's a mix
of emotions, but we do still have about three weeks left."
Officials said they hope to have a master rebuilding plan completed by December
for the site -- one that is likely to include a permanent memorial, commercial
space and cultural attractions.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could take the city up to two years to design a
fitting memorial to the more than 2,800 people killed in the attack.
But transit officials said they couldn't wait for the final development plan to
begin rebuilding train lines that shuttled hundreds of thousands of commuters
before Sept. 11.
"If you tried to tie this into the future development, it would just delay the
whole thing," said Joseph Englot, chief structural engineer for the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
While most planners envision buildings less than half the height of the twin
towers, the new subterranean train lines will be able to bear weight equal to
the 110-story towers.
"We'll put back the columns that could support the original loads. Not knowing
now what the plans are, if somebody wanted to put back what was originally
there, these columns could handle it," Englot said.
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