Tomorrow will mark the 11th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. After years of effort and numerous setbacks, three of the proposed seven towers to be built at the World Trade Center complex have "topped out," reaching their structural maximum height. Seven WTC was completed in 2006, Four WTC topped out in June of this year, and the tallest, One World Trade Center (formerly known as Freedom Tower), just topped out at 104 floors on August 30. Financial difficulties have left the future of the remaining towers in doubt, and have raised concerns about the still-incomplete National September 11 Memorial and Museum, as the foundation that runs the memorial estimates that it will cost $60 million a year to operate. Gathered below are recent images of the rebuilding at ground zero in New York City.
One World Trade Center: Construction Progress
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One World Trade Center stands tall on the skyline of New York's Lower Manhattan as a man takes a picture from a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 9, 2012. The price tag for the skyscraper was valued at $3.8 billion earlier this year, making it the world's most expensive new office tower. Most of the cost overruns are due to the security measures being taken in the design of the building which sits on a site that has been bombed twice by terrorists. To offset the costs of One World Trade Center, which is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, higher bridge and tunnel tolls have been instated and there has been a reduction in spending on transportation infrastructure. The 1,776-foot skyscraper is expected to be completed by late 2013 or early 2014. #
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An ironworker walks a beam at Three World Trade Center, Monday, June 25, 2012 in New York. The 72-floor, 977-foot tower is scheduled to open late next year. It's expected to be the first tower completed on the 16-acre site since the 9/11 attacks. #
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan -
Construction continues at the World Trade Center in New York, on July 19, 2012. The Vehicle Security Center is at left, and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is in the center. #
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One World Trade Center, viewed from the 72nd floor of Four World Trade Center, on September 7, 2012 in New York City. As New York City and the country prepare for the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, work proceeds at the former site of the World Trade Center Towers. The 16-acre site, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is being rebuilt with developer Larry Silverstein, has a projected price tag of $14.8 billion. #
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US Marine Cpl. Mark Litynski of New Hope, Minnesota, looks up at One World Trade while visiting the 9/11 Memorial at ground zero in New York, on July 4, 2012. Litynski was visiting the memorial with other wounded veterans as a part of a trip organized by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which is helping to build accessible homes for the wounded veterans. #
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The base of one of the cranes used to raise heavy material stands inside the top floors of One World Trade Center as the building nears 100 stories tall in New York, on March 23, 2012. #
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Construction workers move a piece of steel at the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York, on July 19, 2012. The hub, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, will connect suburban commuter trains with New York's subways. #
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Construction continues beneath the arched columns of the East-West Corridor at the World Trade Center site, in New York, on September 7, 2012. The subterranean corridor will connect several buildings with the transportation hub. #
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan -
The under-construction One World Trade Center (center) stands over the World Trade Center construction site and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York's Lower Manhattan, on August 24, 2011. #
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The 9/11 Memorial, during a ceremony for recovery workers and first responders on the 10-year anniversary of the formal end of cleanup operations at Ground Zero on May 30, 2012. Thousands of men and women came to Ground Zero following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to help with the recovery effort. Numerous first responders, including police and fire fighters, have subsequently been plagued with health issues many believe are related to the air they breathed in the weeks and months following the attacks. #
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A square pool, center, at the National September 11 Memorial is surrounded by ongoing construction, Sunday, April 1, 2012 at the World Trade Center in New York. The steel framework, lower left, for the Vehicle Security Center rises next to the excavated area, lower center, of the former Deutsche Bank building. #
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan -
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The World Trade Center construction site, reflected in the windows of 4 World Trade Center in New York, on July 19, 2012. The National September 11 Memorial is upper left, and the transportation hub is upper right. #
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An ironworker prepares a steel column before connecting another column at One World Trade Center on the day it became New York City's tallest skyscraper, Monday, April 30, 2012 in New York. #
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A view from one of the top floors of the new One World Trade Center building, which is under construction on the site of the destroyed original World Trade Center, on April 30, 2012. The building is expected to reach its full height next year, when it will likely to be declared the tallest building in the United States and the third-tallest in the world. #
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U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama look down at the 9/11 Memorial while touring the One World Trade Center building in New York, on June 14, 2012. #
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Ironworkers James Brady, left, and Billy Geoghan release the cables from a steel beam after connecting it on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, on August 2, 2012 in New York. The beam was signed by President Barack Obama with the note: "We remember, We rebuild, We come back stronger!" during a ceremony at the construction site June 14. Since then the beam has been adorned with the autographs of workers and police officers at the site. #
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One World Trade Center on the skyline of Lower Manhattan as people watch the sun set on the city of New York from a Pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 9, 2012. #
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Signatures of officials and construction workers are written on the final steel beam to be installed on 4 World Trade Center during a ceremony to mark its installation in New York, on June 25, 2012. #
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One World Trade Center, center, rises above the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, on September 6, 2012 in New York. The World Financial Center is on the left, and Four World Trade Center is at right. #
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The Tribute in Light for the Twin Towers illuminates the sky in Lower Manhattan near the One World Trade Center construction site, left, seen from Jersey City, New Jersey, in honor of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, on September 6, 2012. #
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The Statue of Liberty, with One World Trade Center lit up in red, white and blue in the background, two days ahead of the Fourth of July holiday as seen from Bayonne, New Jersey, on July 2, 2012. #
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
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