Details were shared for each of the site's projects

In its quarterly update to Community Board 1 on January 14^th, the Port Authority explained that the rebuilding progress is on schedule through most of the World Trade Center (WTC) site. Spokespersons shared details for each of the site’s projects, outlined measures being taken to help reduce construction noise at the site, and gave updates on retail plans.

Quentin B rathwaite, the agency’s assistant director of priority capital programs, said that mass excavation of the east bathtub continues. He said that the Port’s work at the Tower Four site is now complete, and coordination to turn the area over to Silverstein Properties began this week. The turnover comes two weeks after the January 1^st deadline, a result of “unforeseen conditions.”

“Very simply, there was a lot more harder, denser rock than we anticipated, so it did not allow us to meet the January 1^st turnover date,” B raithwaite said.

When asked by a community member why the site’s geology was unforeseen, B raithwaite explained that though the area had been excavated for the original WTC in the 1970s, the east side only accommodated two nine-story buildings that required much shallower excavation. The new east-side towers will range in height from 61 to 78 stories, calling for a much more involved excavation down as deep as 110 feet.

As excavation continues at the Tower Three site, the Port Authority will soon close the Church Street pedestrian walkway beside the site to accommodate the heavy trucks hauling out the soil and rock. The walkway between Cortlandt and Dey Streets is expected be removed as early as this month, extending the closure that has been in place down to Liberty since July 2007.

The Port is coordinating that walkway closure with Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) crews who are building the Dey Street Concourse across Church Street. The MTA expects to restore the sidewalk on the east side of that block (outside Century 21) in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, excavation of Tower Two site at the north end of the east bathtub is proceeding, thus far on track for its June 30, 2008, turnover deadline to Silverstein.

Over the past months, Port Authority crews have been working nearly 24/7 to meet the January deadline. The often noisy operation has led the Port to establish several noise-mitigation measures for the surrounding community, including using jackhammer covers, hanging sound-barrier blankets on perimeter fences, and limiting hours for rock breaking. It also will install soundproofing windows on residential buildings facing the site and use “smart” truck back-up alarms whose volumes rise and fall depending on ambient noise.

Initial construction for the $2.2 billion WTC Transportation Hub also continues in the east bathtub. To make way for primary construction, in approximately six to eight weeks the temporary PATH station entrance on Church Street will be relocated. B y March, PATH riders will begin using the long-term temporary “north access” entrance, located on Vesey Street at West Broadway. This exit will remain in use through 2011 when the hub opens.

Across the WTC, progress continues on the transportation hub’s “east-west connector.” Port Authority crews are using the cut-and-cover tunneling method across West Street -- now on the east side of the street within the WTC site -- to form the future pedestrian concourse to the World Financial Center.

At the WTC’s northwest corner, Port Authority crews continue forming the steel-and-concrete base from which the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower will rise. The tower’s steel superstructure should be at grade in summer 2008.

In the southwest quadrant of the WTC site, the Port is working to preserve the section of the slurry wall that will be exposed in the National 9/11 Memorial’s underground space. Foundation work on the memorial continues, and steel installation is planned to begin in April 2008.

The bases of Towers Two, Three, and Four and the Transportation Hub will be home to the retail complex planned for the WTC. Recently the Port announced that Australian-based Westfield Group, which managed the original WTC retail space, will fill and manage the nearly 500,000 square feet of retail in the redeveloped site. The retail build-out is estimated to cost the Port $1.45 billion, and its construction documents are now being prepared.

In the three towers, the lower three floors will be dedicated to retailers that have yet to be selected. Architect Peter Walker has been tapped to design the pedestrian area on Cortlandt Street between Church and Greenwich Streets. Retail also will fill two levels below grade, which will be built as one unified space and link to the underground concourses to the Freedom Tower and B attery Park City.