by ADAM NICHOLS
The first piece of steel framing a memorial to the nearly 3,000 people killed on 9/11 was put up at Ground Zero yesterday, almost seven years after the World Trade Center attacks.
A 24-foot, 7,700-pound steel column was laid in the northeast corner of the north tower's footprint, a major milestone in the long-delayed project to build the National September 11th Memorial & Museum.
"There is a lot of construction work ahead of us, but we have an opportunity to see the memorial open in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks," museum President Joseph Daniels said yesterday.
The seventh anniversary falls next Thursday.
Workers finished laying the memorial's foundations last month. The first artifact - a Vesey Street exit called the "Survivors' Stairway" because it was used by hundreds to escape - was lowered into the bedrock in July.
The memorial will include a plaza with 400 trees and two massive pools with victims' names inscribed around them.
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