Just below the gleam of the towering One World Trade skyscraper that now anchors New York City lies an intersection, at the corner of Greenwich and Fulton streets, where the Twin Towers once stood, and once fell.
It is no longer a hole in the ground here, nor in the heart of millions across the globe. This is a place to walk and look up, not just at the new tower but the dazzling “Oculus”, a $4bn transit hub designed by Santiago Calatrava that opens later this year and resembles a giant bird – or maybe a dinosaur.
Ground Zero, it seems, has grown back to life.
The fresh unveiling of the pedestrian-only intersection to foot traffic on Thursday was just the latest triumphant milestone in the massive and often frustrating reconstruction in the years since 9/11, from a day when nearly 3,000 lives were lost to today, when thousands stroll past world-class architecture in awe.
Times Square, 70 blocks uptown, may be nicknamed the Crossroads of the World as a buzzing hub for millions of New Yorkers and tourists alike, but the new-old little crossroads way downtown is also likely to become very popular very quickly.
Since the 9/11 Memorial Museum began opening in phases after the 10th anniversary of the attack, in 2011, city officials have made a concerted effort to phase out the term “Ground Zero” that referred to the decimated World Trade Center site as the bullseye of a terrorist attack.
The area has transformed from construction site to neighborhood, uncovering old streets as it goes.
The lower Manhattan neighborhood is now booming, and the site perimeter fences and wooden boards that have blocked many streets and intersections for more than a decade are coming down fast.
Greenwich Street was an important north-south thoroughfare and Fulton a key east-west street before each was abruptly interrupted – and the crossroads obliterated – by the construction of the original World Trade Center complex.
The reclaimed crossroads at Greenwich and Fulton is a significant development as an intersection that, for most, will feel like a brand-new addition to the city as a convenient and picturesque thoroughfare.
It is being restricted to pedestrian traffic only as a security measure.
On Thursday the public was able to walk across the intersection from the north, south and west. There is still construction to the east. The crossroads is close to a patch of ground that is being saved for a performing arts center and is just steps from the reflecting pools of the September 11 memorial and plaza.
