World Trade Center site shows signs of rebirth

The tower's pillars now reach to just beneath street level from the bedrock 70 feet below ground level and will eventually rise to 1,776 feet -- symbolic of the date of U.S. independence.

But some say progress at the site has been painful.

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat from lower Manhattan, was blunt this week in his assessment of how long it has taken to get to this point. "The rebuilding process, as we all know, was in a shambles," he said.

After years of scuffling over what would replace the trade center's 110-story Twin Towers, renderings and models of the rebuilding plan have been fine-tuned and the public can now see concrete progress taking place around a sea of cranes at the site.

Next week, the annual September 11 commemoration will take place off site for the first time because what was a gaping hole for the first five anniversaries is now a busy construction site where four new skyscrapers, a transit center, a museum and a memorial are going up.

In addition to the Freedom Tower, due to be completed in 2012, the designs for the three other skyscrapers at the site have been refined to include taller lobbies, space for art, and exterior elevators. The last of those building is scheduled to be finished by 2013.