WTC cleanup final phase article, Sep 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Officials say .Ground Zera cleanup enters final phase \ ■ The last of the that will allow us to excavate the red file folders, flapping in the rest of the basement,” said Ken- chilly breeze. A pink invoice that rubble should be neth Holden, commissioner of the survived the fall from the 16th city’s Design and Development floor of the south tower listed a gone by summer Corporation. payment for $193.26. __________________ The new ramp will replace the Just west of this spot, the exca- Bv SARA KUGLER two that are now on site — ramps vators have reached bedrock in an A^ociATED PRESS made out of debris and topp^ area about the size of a; tennis ----- :-------------- ■ . .• with dirt. The debris, Holden said, court where a greenish pool, of d^cavation of the World Trade, .“presumably contains remains.” ’ water has collected. Some of /to C^tef ruins has entered its final After "the cleanup shifted to water Is from rain and melted phase as crews lay the foundation areas below the fallen twin tow- ramp, that,will ;ail6w recbv- " ere, pockets of victims^ remains Hudson ilver. ray workers, to ^remove the last of • were founi many in stairwells When the trade center wasfifflf, therubblebysummer. and bther spots that were par- ® 3-foot-wide, 70- Since the recovery effort began tially protected as steel beams fell fo6f-d^p>;K5^ch along the w^- undraground'last month, workers; like.pickupsticks. 1;; site witt^a clay ha^,toaed Whe pit that was At theloot of one of the muddy slu^ toholdback the sl^ and once the trade center’s seven- ramps, giant orange excavators story basement. Hundreds of - claw through the ruins, setting crete slabs reinforcing the slu^ trucks cany: rubble out of the- down piles for firefighters to pick crater eaa day, more than one? flirbugh with hand tools as they 2^* million tons in all now. search for remains. Of the nearly but the ip^tam debns actu- The cle^p has been faster and 2,900 victims, 684 have been ^^y pro^d^ sup^^^ cheaper than expected. A job that matched te remains by the med- the^gbris^g^a^ Se^S tte once was estimated to take at ical examiner. least s year is now predicted to be The city and work crews say the put in these fi’eback done by June An expense initially cleanup has gone faster than ex- anchors ” Holden said thought to run as high as $7 billion pected due to the 12-hour shifts .. tjgback is created bv drilline j ho, expected to cost closer to and a prcahtog atUtude that vic- a to “b™Tof“ bfes^ $1 billion. tims’ fanulies deserve their re- , a „ fUrnimh Contractors orchestrate the lentless labor. Workers also credit ^be slurrv wall Holden said movements-of^out 800 workers the ^speedy progress to mflff at the site. As crews work around weather. tbe 900 planned tiebacks into the the clock to build the 500-foot-lbng Still, they must pick'through the wall. metal rainp along the western debris 24 hours a day — when the Tbg ground zero mantra from edge of the pit, others whittle rain pelts their hard hats or, like nowuntaJune is “remains recov- away at ,theruins around iL j . last-^ when heavy flakra^ gry- ^cavatidhand tiebacks,” Crews expect to finish the ramp' from / the year’s .first snowfall ^Holden said? . inaboutlOWeeks. " »\ •cpatedW^/^elasheS.^‘ - During tbe hexi fiVe^M®^ “Once ""we complete that, then . ’ “Don’t anybody fall down, don’t : Holden said, the biggest challenge we’ll be able to do the final phase ; anybody get hurt tonight,” can- will be coordinating the many op- tioned a .fire chief as a recent erations beginning to creep bad night shift begah. The tempera- into the area, such as work to re- ture dipped below 30 degrees on biuld? a damaged subway tunneL this’eyeping, crews worked in The developer who holds the lease whatwould have been the area un- on the property has said he would denieath the Marriott World like to build a group of smaller Trade Center. Above their heads structures and not skyscrapers was the gaping mouth of a subway • like the twin towers. fel • tunneL; ? “As the site gets considerM to Scattered among unrecogniz- be less and less a disaster' area, able debris were mundane and and, more and,.more a reconstruc- oddly untouched office items — a lion area, what’s happing fej. box of ball point pens, some spill- more and more people want ing out, leaking blue ink into the move back -—which is great, as ifc- ashy dirt Papers peeked out of should bes’ HoiaensaidLs ., y -

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