Philly is getting a 9/11 memorial

The Delaware River Port Authority board approved Wednesday plans to erect a memorial commemorating the 9/11 terror attacks.

The memorial will be built on a triangular DRPA-owned plot of land at Fifth and Race streets, adjacent to the National Constitution Center and the entrance to the Ben Franklin Bridge.

The DRPA said in its board meeting Wednesday morning that planners for the memorial hope to complete construction by Sept. 11 this year to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Proposed renderings show two towers, each 9 feet 11 inches tall, with a replica of the Liberty Bell hanging between them. Artifacts from the attack sites will be prominently featured: steel from the World Trade Center, a block of limestone granite from the Pentagon, and soil from the crash site of Flight 93.
All labor, materials and work have been donated by volunteers, the DRPA board said.

There would be no cost to the agency except for the land and maintenance, which DRPA already does.

“Kudos goes out to whoever started this and whoever had to put the time in to get the materials and so forth,” Commisioner E. Frank DiAntonio said.