After more than seven years in storage, a large steel column found beneath ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks is returning to the site.

Candace McAdams, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, said Friday that the beam would be relocated to the site in lower Manhattan early Monday.

The 58-ton, 36-foot-tall column will become part of the planned National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum.

It’s currently stored in a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The beam became a makeshift memorial. People adorned it with firehouse patches, police logos and union stickers.

It was spray-painted with the shorthand “PAPD 37,” “NYPD 23,” and “FDNY 343” for the Port Authority and city police officers and firefighters who died in the attacks.

Construction at Ground Zero has been plagued with delays, prompting Governor David Paterson last week to give World Trade Center site developer Larry Silverstein an ultimatum in prolonged talks over his ground zero lease.

The governor said rebuilding could go ahead without Silverstein if necessary.

But the governor says he has told the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to draw up new plans so the Sept. 11 memorial and other public projects can be finished without Silverstein. The Port Authority owns the site.

(Source: WCBSTV)