9/11 memorial access will be limited for years

NEW YORK – The Sept. 11 memorial will open in the World Trade Center’s footprints by the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks, but for years afterward access will be limited to a set number of people and visitors will be surrounded by the noise of construction, the memorial foundation president said Monday.

It will be years before the millions of people who want to visit the center have unfettered access to the memorial site, said Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Ultimately, visitors will be able to approach the memorial and its green spaces and cobblestoned plazas from all sides.

“We are planning to use a free, timed reservation system,” Daniels said Monday. “Visitors will plan their trip to the memorial in advance by reserving a pass for a specific date for a specific time.”

Preliminary plans call for a limit of 1,500 visitors at a time, with special consideration being given to the relatives of Sept. 11 victims. Visitors will have to sign up online for available spots and print out their free tickets.

Daniels said the first public visitors to the site would get spectacular views of the rebuilding. “When they look around, they are going to be seeing, column by column, floor by floor, the World Trade Center site being rebuilt,” he said.

The 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is being built just northwest of the memorial site and won’t open until 2013. Hundreds of trees will still need to be planted, and cobblestones will need to be filled in to the 8-acre memorial plaza after Sept. 11, 2011.