A first look at the 9/11 memorial
This week, CBS Evening News has visited all three sites of the 9/11 attacks. On Friday, it reported from what has been known as Ground Zero. But after a commemoration Sunday, it may be known by its new name -- the National September 11th Memorial. Anchor Scott Pelley went down for an early look at the magnificent centerpiece.
Two granite pools with waterfalls spread out across the World Trade Center plaza -- one for each fallen tower. Each of them is an acre in size. The water glides down 30 feet.
Pelley got a look of the memorial with Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- the agency that owns the site and oversees the rebuilding.
"So this is precisely in the footprint of the World Trade Center tower?" asked Pelley
"Exactly," said Ward.
The Port Authority executive director pointed out a fountain that he said is the largest man-made fountain in America. "We built two of them," Ward said. "660,000 gallons of water re-circulating 24/7."
The names of those who were lost are etched in bronze panels along the borders of the pools. The memorial foundation asked us not to show the names before Sunday, so that the families can see them first.
At night, the panels will be backlit to shine against the void.The memorial's designer, Michael Arad, was a young, little-known architect whose plan was selected out of 5,200 proposals.
"These two acre-sized voids are like a moment of silence," he said, "and what we do with that moment of silence depends on us."We just want to make sure everything's done very carefully. We're building for the ages."
The memorial opens to the 9/11 families on Sunday and to the public on Monday. Visitors must reserve visitor passes in advance on the memorial's Website, 911memorial.org.
