NEW YORK — Hundreds of workers are busy around the clock building the nearly $4 billion World Trade Center transportation hub, its white steel wings starting to rise into the Manhattan sky as a remembrance to those who died at the site on 9/11.
Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the complex will be "a light-radiating work of art" when it opens sometime in 2015, trade center construction director Steven Plate said during a tour Wednesday.
Reaching three levels underground, the 800,000-square-foot complex will link the PATH trains with Hudson River ferries to New Jersey, and 11 city subway lines — all already operating.
Under construction are the two wing-like sections to be separated by a special feature: a skylight that will open like a huge eye. On each Sept. 11, this "oculus" will be aligned so direct sunlight will shine through the glass at 10:28 a.m. — the time when the second tower collapsed in 2001.
His inspiration for the design, Calatrava once said, was a child releasing a bird.
"This is more than an engineering marvel," said Plate. It's designed "to remember the souls of nearly 3,000 people who died here."
Towering over the hub is the 104-story 1 World Trade Center, the centerpiece of the rebuilt 16-acre trade center site. And right above the complex lies the 9/11 Memorial plaza with its reflecting pools.
The $3.9 billion cost of the steel-concrete-and-glass structure falls into a budget under the Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns the trade center site.
