Test Blasts Conducted at Former WTC Site

A construction worker walks by a construction blasting sign at the World Trade Center site in New York Monday, June 12, 2006. Engineers conducted a test blast in the bedrock where they plan to build the foundation for the Freedom Tower. The use of explosives is intended to speed construction, and if the tests are successful, blasting is planned for alternating weekdays for about two months, with three to four explosions each day. (AP Photo/Shiho Fukada) (Shiho Fukada - AP)

NEW YORK -- Construction crews set off test explosions Monday at the site for the Freedom Tower, producing muffled blasts where the World Trade Center once stood.

If the process passes a review by the Fire Department and other agencies, blasting will be performed several times a day, about three times a week, for the next two months, said Mel Ruffini, Tishman Construction's Freedom Tower project manager.

Blasting to prepare the bedrock for construction will produce less noise and dust than jackhammers, and will save two months of work, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site.

Tourists on neighboring Church Street did not hear anything during Monday's test, and people on other nearby streets heard only muffled sounds, said Coleman.

Politicians and others have been critical of the slow progress at the site five years after the terrorist attack.

Five office towers, a Sept. 11 memorial, a transit hub and a performing arts center are planned at the 16-acre site.