Newsday

When the 1,776-foot-high Freedom Tower rises over the former site of the World Trade Center, it will be inscribed with the signatures of first responders and relatives of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Three steel columns that eventually will be used in the tower's construction already have been delivered to the trade center site. One of those will be unveiled to the public Sunday at Battery Park City, 200 North End Ave. at Murray Street.

Relatives of 9/11 victims, police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians will be able to view and sign the 30-ton beam from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday. Other members of the public will be able to do so afterward, from noon to 3 p.m.

Gov. George E. Pataki and 100 steelworkers signed the beams last Saturday before they left the Virginia steel plant where they were fabricated. The beams were painted white so they could be signed.

The beams were produced in July by Arcelor in Differdange, Luxembourg, sent in August on ships out of Antwerp, Belgium, and fabricated in September by Banker Steel Co. in Lynchburg, Va.

Banker Steel welded plates to the sides of the steel, forming "built-up" columns that weigh as much as 2,440 pounds per foot.

The three columns - ranging in length from 31 feet, 2 inches to 34 feet, 6 inches - traveled about 4,700 miles before arriving in New York this month.

By May, 27 columns will be in place to form the perimeter of the tower. About 45,000 tons will be used at the trade center site. To date, 3,180 cubic yards of concrete have been poured at the site.