Momentum continued to build at the World Trade Center in the second half of 2006 as the first batch of steel for the Freedom Tower was ordered, produced in Luxembourg, and shipped to the United States where the beams were prepared for December delivery to Lower Manhattan.

The jumbo steel columns, some as long as five stories and weighing a total of 806 tons, will comprise the Freedom Tower’s below-grade structure. The four-leg journey from Luxembourg to Lower Manhattan is estimated at 4,700 miles. The entire Freedom Tower will require approximately 50,000 tons of steel, which will be manufactured almost exclusively in the United States.

In September, WTC developer Larry A. Silverstein joined three world-renowned architects – Lord Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki and Lord Richard Rogers – to unveil architectural designs for the three office and retail towers that will rise along the eastern portion of the site. As part of an agreement, formally ratified in September by the Port Authority, New York City and State, and New Jersey, all four office towers, as well as the rest of the site, will be largely completed by 2012.

Just as importantly, construction work has commenced and continues on the Memorial, the WTC Transit Hub and the Fulton Street station.