After Years Of Uncertainty, Progress Visible At New York City's Ground Zero Site

New Yorkers have grown accustomed to the the huge pit at Ground Zero, the site of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As powerful players wrangled for control of the redevelopment plan for the World Trade Center site, public impatience only grew.

Finally, as the city marks the ninth anniversary of 9/11, the development seems to be moving in the right direction.

On September 7, senior New York City and state officials brought together the site's once-feuding developers, the Port Authority of New York and Silverstein Properties.

"Today, it's full steam ahead," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "New Yorkers deserve to see this hole in the heart of our city healed at last, and America expects us to do what's right."

"We have a plan, we have a budget, we have the partners, and we have the construction team that can get it done," said Port Authority Executive Director Christopher Ward. "We have, in the last two and half years, brought this site to a point that very few thought we would."

The tallest of the nine skyscrapers planned for the site, One World Trade Center, has already been constructed up to the 36th of its 109 stories. The other structures are also visibly making headway.

To commemorate the progress in the redevelopment of the site, two 50-ton steel columns from the original Twin Towers were erected as cornerstones of the future WTC museum and memorial.