The Port Authority and Silverstein updated CB1 members Monday night

Speaking to Community Board 1 (CB1) on Monday, April 13th, the Port Authority reported that its World Trade Center (WTC) rebuilding projects are proceeding, though it continues to finalize plans for the new east-side towers with Silverstein Properties.

Port Authority Assistant Director of WTC Construction, Quentin Brathwaite, explained that the agency continues to raise steel well above grade for 1 World Trade Center -- distinguishing the building’s official name and address from its nickname, “Freedom Tower.” He also said that steel for the National 9/11 Memorial continues being installed, with concrete pours beginning soon.

The Port’s most significant new construction activity is excavation work for the Vehicular Security Center (VSC), for which a new “south bathtub” is being created between Liberty and Cedar, and West and Greenwich Streets. Crews already have excavated a trench on the west side of the bathtub, and this month will install the first of several steel rebar cages in the trench. Slurry, a type of high-strength concrete, will then be poured over the cages to create the slurry wall panels -- forming the bathtub’s perimeter to allow for mass excavation and future VSC construction.

To accommodate south bathtub work, the Port is working with the state Department of Transportation (SDOT) to reconfigure the Liberty Street Pedestrian Bridge. Starting this summer, SDOT will relocate the bridge extension, forming a right angle that sends pedestrians to a new stairway and elevator to the south, at Cedar and West Streets.

The temporarily reconfigured Liberty Street Bridge will open in spring 2010. It will be modified again in several years, once the Port has completed that section of the VSC and built the proposed park between Liberty and Cedar Streets.

The Port Authority continues to prepare for excavation of the “east-west connector,” the pedestrian underpass that will link the WTC Transportation Hub to the World Financial Center (WFC). The agency also is coordinating potential plans with WFC owner Brookfield Properties to extend the glass wall at the Winter Garden over the future underpass entrance.

At the meeting, CB1 passed a resolution asking the Port to expedite the connector’s construction so that the underpass can accommodate pedestrians as disruptions to other West Street closures occur.

Within the WTC’s “east bathtub,” Silverstein’s construction of Tower 4 (T4) is advancing. The base-level foundation is nearly complete, and crews from Tishman Construction already are building the other three sub-grade floors. Janno Lieber, Silverstein’s WTC development executive vice president, assured CB1 that crane operations are being closely monitored to ensure safety, and that a second crane will be installed at the T4 site in early fall 2009 for steel erection.

Lieber explained that his company is coordinating official site turnover that will determine the final plans and construction schedules for Towers 2 and 3. Those plans include coordinating below-grade infrastructure and VSC plans.

CB1 passed a second resolution at the meeting that the Port Authority present a revised “Roadmap Forward” WTC progress report with updated project milestones and schedule details. The board requested a June 30th deadline that revision, which would be exactly one year since Governor David Paterson’s original WTC rebuilding audit deadline.

Related Links