WTC Spire Hoisted To Top Of Building As Freedom Tower Nears Completion

The WTC spire has been hoisted to the top of the Freedom Tower. The flag draped spire was raised up Thursday afternoon to a chorus of cheers from construction crews working at the site.

Today's hoisting was a postponement from the originally planned date of April 29. The Latin Times originally reported on the WTC spire postponement. The raising of the spire was canceled due to rain and winds.

Today the 408 foot WTC spire was hoisted to the top of the Freedom Tower and is resting on a platform at the top of the building until it is fully installed, the Associated Press reports.

The WTC spire will act as a broadcast antenna when properly installed at a later time. When the spire reaches its new home at the top of the World Trade Center the building will be the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

The new WTC building will rise 1,776 feet above the streets of New York City. It will be an eighth of a mile shorter than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

According to nyc-tower.com construction on the Freedom Tower began in 2006. The building is only a few days away from completion and will soon be ready to house new occupants.

The completion of the Freedom Tower will usher in a new era for NYC. For 12-years New Yorkers have had to walk past the site of the WTC watching it look like an open wound that would never fully heal.

While New Yorkers and the rest of the United States will never forget the horrific events of September 11, 2001 the finished building will help to close the gap left in NYC when the Twin Towers fell.

Those who live and work near the Freedom Tower will always be reminded about what happened there in 2001. It cannot be easy for those who will go to work in that building to put what happened on that spot out of their minds. Especially since workers are still finding human remains despite it being 12-years since the attack.

The Daily News reported on April 3 that possible human remains have been found at the site of the World Trade Center. The medical examiner has the fragments found at WTC and is looking into identifying who they might belong to.

The medical examiner told the Daily News that 40% of the families of those killed on 9/11 have not recovered anything related to a lost family member.

"We would like to see the other 40 percent of the families who have never recovered anything to at least someday have a piece of their loved one," the medical examiner said. "That they can go to a cemetery and pray."

The US is 4-months away from the 12^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It seems as though the whole world has changed since then. An entire generation has grown up in the post 9/11 world we live in now.