Over the last decade, the site faced funding issues and controversy over what exactly should be built in the empty space.
"We've raised over $390 million from 300,000 donors. The fact is once people understood we have a responsibility to build this memorial and open it on the 10th anniversary people got focused, they got energized," says memorial President Joe Daniela.
The 16 acre memorial will have 30 feet pools, the largest in the country, as well as a museum.
"To give you a lay of the land that's the West Side Highway over there. That is what used to be called the Freedom Tower. It's now called One World Trade and they've completed 60 stories so far. Over on the East Side that's one of the Silverstein buildings going up and in the middle of all this the memorial," Joe adds.
There will also be a beam on display called the trident that held up the north tower of the /*World Trade Center*/.
"Looking out seeing the tridents, the blue sky behind them, it's an incredibly inspiring feeling and it gets you energized that all these plans are coming together in the right way," he adds.
The site is expected to be the most visited in America with nearly 1,500 visitors per hour.
There will be a timed-reservation system to prevent chaos amongst large crowds.
"We think it's a fair system and we plan on going live with that system in July of this year so people can start reserving their passes," says Joe.
