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Trade Center steel almost gone, but demand remains strong

FILE - In this June 17, 2011, file photo, people touch a 12-foot steel beam from the World Trade Center during the beam's arrival from New York City in Wauseon, Ohio. Pieces of steel from the twin towers have been parceled out to all 50 states and eight countries for memorials and museum exhibits and were used in the construction of the U.S. Navy ship USS New York. Of 2,200 pieces of steel preserved in an airplane hangar in New York City, there are fewer than 30 left. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - In this June 17, 2011, file photo, people touch a 12-foot steel beam from the World Trade Center during the beam's arrival from New York City in Wauseon, Ohio. Pieces of steel from the twin towers have been parceled out to all 50 states and eight countries for memorials and museum exhibits and were used in the construction of the U.S. Navy ship USS New York. Of 2,200 pieces of steel preserved in an airplane hangar in New York City, there are fewer than 30 left. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

In an airplane hangar at New York’s Kennedy Airport, fewer than 30 pieces of steel remain from the debris recovered after terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center’s twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Even 14 years after the attacks, applications are still pending for the pieces of metal – mostly for memorials and museum exhibits – and some pieces found a new home as recently as last week in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Florida.

Here’s a look at what has become of the relics of the World Trade Center:

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HOW MUCH STEEL?

Beginning in August 1968, builders used 200,000 tons of steel to build the World Trade Center complex, enough to raise the twin towers to heights of 1,362 feet (south tower) and 1,368 feet (north tower). Out of 1.8 million tons of debris removed from the site after the attacks, recovery workers collected 840 pieces of steel, some of which were cut up to make a total of 2,200 separate items. They ranged from 6-inch slabs to massive beams to the 7.5 tons the Navy used in the construction of the warship USS New York.