As the eighth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks approaches, it's become increasingly clear that the grand design for rebuilding the area will take decades to be fully completed. That's if it ever is at all.
Five skyscrapers were all supposed to rise by early next decade to replace the ravaged World Trade Center. Standing on the site now, the sweeping design unveiled 6 years ago still hasn't materialized.
The most symbolic pieces of the puzzle at ground zero are taking shape.
The Freedom Tower's frame is several stories above street level. Work has begun on one office tower and continues on underground elements of the $3.2 billion transit hub. The memorial pools' outline and plaza have filled in a swath of the site.
Earlier this month, the Port Authority, which owns the site, promised that two massive waterfalls that will boom into the chasm where the building once stood will be ready for the 10the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, according to a published report.
Just a week earlier, builders of the site's tallest office tower, One World Trade Center, set a 70-ton piece of steel into place -- the largest column installed yet at the building. Nearly 30 more columns are slated to go up by the fall.
