Road will lead to Pa. 9/11 site

The National Park Service is expected to award a contract in the coming weeks to construct a two-lane access highway from Rte. 30 that will take motorists to the proposed Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville, Pa. The cost of the project, which will be covered by donations and the taxpayers, will be $8.5 million.

Originating from Newark, N.J., Flight 93 was headed to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was hijacked near Cleveland. It was headed back to Washington, D.C., to strike the Capitol building when a group of passengers fought the terrorists and brought the plane down.

The 2.3-mile section of roadway is expected to be completed by July 2011, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Officials broke ground on a $60 million memorial park back in November. Plans call for a “sacred ground” area where the plane crashed. Visitors will be allowed to walk the edge of the site.