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Other work includes steel installation and interior fit-out at the pavilion
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Construction is on pace for the 10th-anniversary opening, and this week came the first announcement about visitor access to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Addressing Community Board 1’s World Trade Center committee this week, Memorial President Joe Daniels said starting September 12, 2011, visitors will be able to reserve free tickets in blocks of time, then be escorted in groups onto the plaza via dedicated walkways.
Many details of this timed-reservation system have yet to be solidified, such as exactly what hours the plaza will be open, how many tickets will be available at any given hour, and how long people will be able to stay on the plaza. But it does seem clear that Memorial planners are giving site-visit logistics much thought, and planning to be flexible in order to accommodate what could be as many as five million visitors per year.
On the day of the actual 10th anniversary, Daniels said WTC site visitation will be reserved mainly for families of 9/11 victims, as has been the case for every commemoration ceremony since 2002.
The reason for the limited plaza access is plain to see: Heavy construction is and will remain active in all areas of the WTC site for at least the next three years. That includes work under the Memorial plaza -- while the subterranean Museum space is built out through late 2012 -- as well as on its northeast corner, where the entry pavilion is being built.
Daniels explained that through the timed-reservation system, visitors will be able to hold their spots through the Memorial website, www.national911memorial.org. They then would gather in groups at a “welcoming site” in the 90 West Street building, which will serve much the same function as today’s 9/11 Memorial Preview Site at 20 Vesey Street. With their tickets, visitors would then travel via a dedicated walkway along Washington, Cedar, and West Street to the plaza entry point at the southwest corner of the WTC site.
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| Steel installation is progressing on the Memorial Pavillion |
“It will be clearly communicated not to just show up at the Memorial, but to make a timed reservation,” said Daniels. “It’s a very managed process and will help visitors from around the world plan their visit.”
He added that the exact number of people allowed on the plaza at any one time is uncertain at this preliminary stage, but speculated that it would be around 1,500 visitors at a time. Each person would be screened, and part of the security plan is to maintain only one entrance and exit location.
To help ease the boost in bus traffic that will likely accompany the National 9/11 Memorial plaza opening, Daniels said his agency has retained Sam Schwartz Engineering, a local traffic-management firm, to optimize wayfinding, traffic flow, and an overall communications program.
As for current construction at the Memorial, both pools are nearly complete, and the bronze panels displaying the names of all 2,892 victims are now almost all installed. Their names are grouped according to the where they perished, with first responders’ names grouped around the south pool. Exact locations will be searchable through a publicly accessible Memorial database.
Other work includes steel installation and interior fit-out at the pavilion structure -- where the two twin-tower “tridents” were installed last fall. Already 124 trees are planted on the plaza, with hundreds more to come this spring and summer. Underground infrastructure, Museum artifact installation, architectural preservation, and other construction also continue at the site.
Click here to view a 3D Google Earth rendering of the Memorial site.
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