The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 56

While construction proceeds at Ground Zero and it has largely been accident free since the days when workers were busy trying to clear the pile of debris from the collapsed towers, today isn't one of those days.

At around 7:00 a.m. this morning, a crane used at the site collapsed, and a worker was pinned beneath it.

A crane has collapsed at Liberty Street and West Street in lower Manhattan.

This wasn't one of the larger cranes on the site, or even one of the Freedom Tower cranes, but one of the more mobile cranes used to move materials around the site. There are literally more than a dozen cranes operating on the 16 acre site, and they range in size from the small mobile cranes to the large tower cranes used to lift materials for the Freedom Tower.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is increasing spending on Ground Zero rebuilding. In its latest $3.3 billion capital budget, an increasing share is going to Freedom Tower and related Ground Zero construction.