FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A stretch of Greenwich Street along the World Trade Center complex closed for the disaster recovery and then reconstruction after 9/11 reopened to foot traffic Thursday, creating a new sense of openness at the site.
The several blocks of the north-south road, which runs from the Battery up to Greenwich Village, is now open to pedestrians from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., officials said, giving commuters, tourists and passersby more space in a complex that's still congested with construction, blockades and security fences.
Greenwich Street, from about Liberty Street to Vesey Street, became part of the first World Trade Center complex the mid-1960s.
On Thursday morning, barriers were taken down at Fulton Street and Vesey Street, giving a better view of the massive, ribbed Calatrava-designed transportation hub, and opening up a crossway at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. Cars will not be allowed on the newly opened blocks, official said.
Opening the stretch has been one piece of the continued progress at the complex, Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority, said.
"Our goal has always been to reintegrate this site back into the Lower Manhattan community," Dumas said. "This is what we keep moving forward with, as we open up streets, widen streets, take down fences — this is what the community wants."
Catherine McVay Hughes, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, lives a few blocks from the World Trade Center site, and said she was "thrilled" to see Greenwich Street opened Thursday.
"This is something we've been advocating for," she said, while walking along the newly opened blocks. "It helps make this site a more integral part of neighborhood, and really improves the flow of pedestrians."
