New York, NY: Final steel beam lifted at 4 World Trade Center, site of 9/11 attacks

Mark Lennihan, Associated Press
Construction workers and officials watch as the ceremonial last beam is hoisted to the top of Four World Trade Center on Monday. The 72-floor, 977-foot tower is scheduled to open late next year. It’s expected to be the first tower completed on the 16-acre site since the 9/11 attacks.

NEW YORK — A final steel beam was lifted Monday atop a new World Trade Center skyscraper — the first expected to open at the site next year since the twin towers were decimated on Sept. 11. With BeBe Winans singing “God Bless America,” workers raised their hardhats in tribute as the mammoth beam rose slowly into the Manhattan sky, swaying from a steel rope hoisted by a crane.

A U.S. flag attached to the bottom of the beam fluttered above several hundred spectators at the topping-off ceremony. “Ten years later, it’s pretty remarkable,” said a teary-eyed Sally Rexach, a nurse who aids workers constructing 4 World Trade Center.

Rexach was at ground zero just after Sept. 11, 2001, supporting workers who combed through the smoking debris in search of human remains.

“This is a very proud moment; it’s full circle,” she said, glancing across the 16-acre site where the uncompleted One World Trade Center in the northwest corner is already New York’s tallest structure.

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