Saw this on Wired...
Trees.will.be up by the end of this year
ACRE-SIZED SIGNATURE REFLECTING POOLS FOR NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL FULLY FRAMED IN STEEL
Date: Mar 29, 2010
Press Release Number: 17
Nearly 100 Percent of the Steel for the Memorial Installed to Date;
Real-Time Video Through EarthCam's Webcam at national911memorial.org
And Through the Port Authority's WTC Web site at
www.wtcprogress.com
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey today announced that the two signature reflecting pools for the Memorial are completely framed in steel.
To date, 99.8 percent of the steel for the project has been installed and nearly 60 percent of concrete has been poured. When construction is completed, the total amount of steel will equal 8,151 tons - more than was used to build the Eiffel Tower - and the total amount of concrete will be 49,900 cubic yards. The Port Authority is building the Memorial and Museum on behalf of the Memorial Foundation.
"The Memorial pools are now clearly defined in steel, marking an exciting and visible milestone," 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said. "The 9/11 Memorial is a true marker of progress at the World Trade Center site with these two pools helping to fulfill a promise to rebuild and replace the void left in the wake of the 9/11 attacks."
Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, "As the lead builder of the public projects on the World Trade Center site, we take enormous pride in seeing key parts of the Memorial take shape. We look ahead to meeting our commitment of opening the Memorial on the 10th anniversary."
Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said, "Opening the 9/11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the attacks is our highest priority, and the framing of the signature pools is a tangible sign that we are continuing to make significant progress to meet our commitment."
In the coming weeks, the granite stone lining the Memorial pools will begin to be installed within the pools. 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 footprints of the fallen Twin Towers.
Surrounding the two Memorial pools will be a grove of nearly 400 oak trees. The trees are currently growing at a holding site in New Jersey and will begin to be planted later this year.
Ninety percent of the trade contracts for the project have been awarded to date. The Memorial is on schedule to open on 9/11/2011. The Memorial Museum is expected to open a year later.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is the not-for-profit corporation created to oversee the design, raise the funds, and program and operate the Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site. The Memorial & Museum will be located on eight of the 16 acres of the site.
The Memorial will remember and honor the nearly 3,000 people who died in the horrific attacks of February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001. The design, created by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, consists of two pools formed in the footprints of the original Twin Towers and a plaza of trees.
The Museum will display monumental artifacts linked to the events of September 11, while presenting intimate stories of loss, compassion, reckoning and recovery that are central to telling the story of the 2001 attacks and the aftermath. It will communicate key messages that embrace both the specificity and the universal implications of the events of 9/11; document the impact of those events on individual lives, as well as on local, national, and international communities; and explore the continuing significance of these events for our global community.