Page 7 - HIWT Winter 2011 World of Welding

hiwt@welding.org HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY

cOVeR STORy

SiGnificanT PROGReSS aT THe WORlD TRaDe cenTeR
SiTe

By Marty Baker, Editor

The Memorial at the World Trade Center in New York will mezzanine level – which will serve as the floor for
remember and honor the nearly three thousand people who the 9/11 Memorial above it – is nearly complete.
died in the attacks of February 26, 1993, and September 11, • The passageway under the No. 1 subway box that
2001. The Memorial will consist of two massive reflecting will link the PATH mezzanine to the Hub’s main
pools set within the footprints of the Twin Towers with the concourse is nearing completion.
largest manmade waterfalls in North America cascading down • Every piece of steel from the smallest screw to the
their sides. The names of the nearly 3,000 individuals who largest piece of steel will be manufactured in the
were killed in the September 11 attacks in New York City, U.S.A.
Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, and the February 1993 • Estimated total completion is sometime in 2014.
World Trade Center bombing will be inscribed around the
edges of the Memorial pools. The Hub construction began in 2007. It includes four super
columns and welders were working two shifts, 23 hours a day,
The Memorial will cover approximately eight of the sixteen seven days a week. It took four months of on-site fabrication
acres of the site and the construction project is under the to create a 227-ton column that was a connector between
direction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. the Hub’s PATH Hall and Transit Hall. At more than half-a-
Office towers will occupy the surrounding area. Several local million pounds, it was the heaviest piece of steel and the first
unions supply the thousands of skilled workers including the of four to be lifted and placed on the entire 16-acre site. After
welders for the construction including the United Association the last-minute welding and grinding, the Super Column was
of Plumbers, Pipefitters, Sprinklerfitters, Steamfitters and raised into position onto its concrete footing. The team then
Service Techs and the Ironworkers International. welded it in place, affixing it to its steel plate. Site foreman
for the Hub was Mike Sullivan and the work was performed
9/11 memORial by the Ironworkers. Brandin Stitt was Steel Superintendent.
• Fountains and pools require eight pumps which [Brian Cimagala, Story Producer – Transportation Hub; The
pump 24,000 gallons per minute through 10,500 feet Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero.]
of linear pipe.
• It takes 11 hours to fill the fountains to their 430,000 The Hub, located between Towers Two and Three is designed
to accommodate 250,000 pedestrians and travelers a day.
gallon capacity.
• The depth in the water of the main pool is 18 inches.
• More than 150 trees have been planted on the One WORlD TRaDe cenTeR
Memorial Plaza.
• Steel installation for the Museum’s Visitor’s Center One World Trade Center is now a fixture in the New York
is complete, and installation of glass cladding was skyline. Upon completion, it will be the tallest building in
th
completed by 9/11/11 in time for the 10 Anniversary. the United States and one of the tallest in the world. It is
scheduled to be complete by the end of 2013 and is expected
WTc TRanSPORTaTiOn HuB to be 82 stories and 1,776 feet high. Before construction could
The iconic steel arches for the World Trade Center begin, crews had to excavate nearly 100 feet down.
Transportation Hub mezzanine have been installed
underground. • Steel is rising at the rate of one floor per week.
• Installation of the concrete floors occurs a few floors
• The Hub Connector – the underground passageway below the steel, followed by the installation of the
linking the Hub to the World Financial Center – is glass curtain walls.
complete.
• Steel installation for the PATH (Port Authority of (Continued on page 8)
New York and New Jersey transportation system)

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