An escalator suspended 101 stories above Southern Manhattan. It's one of the most famous pictures of the new World Trade Center, and the new WTC isn't even finished yet. But the photo, which originally surfaced on Reddit, has a whole backstory to it, too, with some cool behind-the-scenes details from Scott Lahmers, the "elevator man" who took the photo.
EarthCam created a time-lapse video of One World Trade Center being built from 2004-2012, showing the construction process in under two minutes. On April 30, 2012 One World Trade Center became the tallest building in New York City, surpassing the height of the Empire State Building.
After six years of construction, One World Trade Center will surpass the 1250-foot Empire State Building as the tallest in New York this afternoon. When construction is finished, the final height of the building will be 1368 feet, with the antenna spire pushing the edifice to the patriotic height of 1776 feet.
This remarkable footage of One World Trade Center is a moving document of the colossal construction endeavor. Work on the mammoth building began nearly six years ago.
The construction images were captured by EarthCam, which operates a network of webcams in iconic locations all over the world. One World Trade Center is scheduled to top out at 1,776 feet next month. Construction will be completed in December, and the building will open in the spring of next year.
