9/11 Memorial Staff Prepping For Crowd Control At Upcoming Anniversary
NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) – As the World Trade Center Memorial Plaza gets closer to opening, the center's staff is preparing to make sure that all visitors have enough time to safely explore the site.
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Memorial President Joe Daniels said that access will be tightly controlled once it opens for the tenth anniversary.
"Visitors will require a timed pass, available free through an online reservation system. This will avoid long cues and allow as many people who want to visit to do so in a meaningful way. Our reservation system, which we expect to launch in early July, will also give special accommodation to visiting victims' families," he said.
Daniels told a group of business and civic leaders that visitors will be assembled south of the site before getting to the screening center on the north side of 90 West St.
They're planning to limit charter bus traffic and to push for ferries and mass transit.
The memorial will open to victims' families on Sept. 11. and once it's open to the public, starting Sept. 12, priority will be given to visiting family members.
The memorial will be the first thing that opens on the 16-acre World Trade Center site. It will be surrounded on all sides by construction activity.
President Obama visited the site on Thursday to honor the victims following the killing of al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden.
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