WTC 23KT GOLD CARD~9/11~1st ANNIVERSARY GEM MINT 10 p

“We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.”

The World Trade Center consisted of two 110-story buildings (known as the “Twin Towers”) and five smaller buildings. Some 50,000 people worked in the World Trade Center. Another 70,000 business and leisure visitors came to the center daily. Constructed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the early 1970s, the World Trade Center towers were for their time, the best known examples of tube buildings. Aside from withstanding enormous wind loads, the World Trade Center towers were also constructed to withstand settlement loads. Because the towers were built on six acres of landfill, the foundation of each tower had to extend more than 70 feet below ground level to rest on solid bedrock. However, the two towers were unable to survive the effects of a direct hit by two hijacked commercial jetliners during terrorist attacks on the morning of September 11, 2001. Although they were in fact designed to withstand being struck by an airplane, the resultant fires weakened the infrastructure of the building, collapsing the upper floors and creating too much load for the lower floors to bear. Shortly after the attack, both towers collapsed.