“It brings back memories ... of some of the people I knew who perished on September 11. It’s difficult. On the other hand, I see 

the work going on there as being a tremendous monument to those people and to the resiliency of New York and the United States,” he said.

George Tamaro

George Tamaro’s relationship with the World Trade Center began in 1967, eight years after he graduated from Manhattan College’s school of engineering. That was the year Mr. Tamaro began working on a foundation for the World Trade Center, as a staff engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

He later became a partner at Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, where he still works as a consultant today. 

Once again, he finds himself working with the World Trade Center, where he is helping to construct the new foundations.

“In the original construction, everyone knew what we wanted to do. There was an organization to do it and we did it. The problem was, we weren’t sure we could technically do it,” he said.

The earth underneath the site of the World Trade Center was a tough spot to build a skyscraper, let alone two. Soil and water from the nearby Hudson River needed to be controlled, so the engineers, including Mr. Tamaro, decided to build what is now referred to as a bathtub foundation. The bathtub prevented the Hudson River from seeping into the area and the skyscrapers were built up and out of it.

When the towers fell, Mr. Tamaro was called to help.

“I drove down to the site and immersed myself in the recovery effort,” he said.

When he got there, Mr. Tamaro said the scene was chaotic.

“It’s a feeling of complete confusion and sadness seeing something that was so important in my career,” he said of the wreckage.

Mr. Tamaro saw that cranes were being placed on a deck around the perimeter of the site, which was not built to carry that much weight. He counseled the Fire Department on how to navigate. He said he went home and made a book of photographs picturing the original construction of the foundation to help the cleanup effort.