Freedom Tower Begins Rise at Ground Zero

First Massive Steel Columns Are Placed at the World Trade Center Site

Port Authority employee Alicia Ferrera, left, who lost a colleague in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and Hermes Cuervo who lost friends James Cartier and Lester v. Marino, sign a steel beam near ground zero in New York, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006. The beam, which will be signed by families members of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in addition to the general public, will be used in the construction of the Freedom Tower at ground zero. (Seth Wenig - AP)

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 -- The first 25-ton steel column for the new Freedom Tower was installed Tuesday at Ground Zero, another milestone in prolonged efforts to build a new office tower to replace the World Trade Center.

The 31-foot-high white steel column, painted with an American flag and the words "Freedom Tower," was picked up by a crane and set into place on the southern edge of the planned 1,776-foot building. Politicians and workers at the site cheered as the column was installed shortly after 11:30 a.m.

"Today the steel rises, the Freedom Tower rises from the ashes of Sept. 11, and the people of New York and the people of America can be proud," said New York Gov. George E. Pataki (R). A second column, about a foot taller and covered with signatures from steelworkers and politicians in Virginia, was installed a short time later.

Officials hoped to raise a third column later Tuesday.

In the next two weeks, more columns will be set around the perimeter, including two covered with signatures of Sept. 11 families, steelworkers, architects and politicians. Officials said the signature-free column that was installed Tuesday was a slightly different length than the others and was long ago scheduled to be installed first.

By spring, builders say the jumbo steel columns will rise to street level -- about 70 feet from the bottom of Ground Zero.

The 27 columns -- among the largest made in the world -- were forged in Luxembourg, then shipped to Lynchburg, Va., to be fabricated so they could be installed at the foundation. The entire tower will be built with 45,000 tons of steel, builders say.

Virginia residents and steelworkers signed one of the columns earlier this month, and Sept. 11 victims' relatives and first responders wrote messages on another Sunday.

The tower has been redesigned several times; politicians lay a granite cornerstone in July 2004 to begin construction but later had to move the building after city police said it would be vulnerable to terrorism in its location, too close to traffic. It was redesigned, the cornerstone moved off the site, and construction began again this spring. The tower is to open in 2011.