Ground Zero Redevelopment Progresses, Without Time Line

A highly anticipated progress report on construction at ground zero is expected to focus on a scaled-back redesign of the PATH transit hub, demolition of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St., and difficulties involving work on the no. 1 subway line, according to sources familiar with the report.

To be presented at a board meeting of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday, the report will not include something that had been sought by Governor Paterson: a detailed construction schedule with time lines for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site.

A construction official involved in the project said there was no purpose in the Port Authority providing unrealistic dates, especially with so many structural questions still unanswered.

"The problem isn't the time, the problem is that the various stakeholders have created this incredible jigsaw puzzle," the source said. "The problem is that people have been delivering dates on their own agenda and not on what needs to get done."

Construction delays at the World Trade Center redevelopment project, which includes five new office towers, a memorial museum, a park, a performing arts center, and a transit hub, have bridged the governorships of Mr. Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, and George Pataki.

On Monday, Christopher Ward, who was appointed executive director of the Port Authority by Mr. Paterson in May, is expected to ask for an extension to sort out stakeholder accountability and gain insight on more than 20 unanswered policy, engineering, and design questions facing the reconstruction. A complete assessment will likely be delivered to Mr. Paterson by the end of summer or early fall, according to sources.

During a reporter's visit to ground zero yesterday, contractors working for the developer Silverstein Properties were busy blasting rock and clearing part of the site to pour concrete for the foundation of towers 3 and 4, office buildings that are scheduled to rise along Church Street. Adjacent to that site, workers for the Port Authority were clearing soil, readying portions of the "eastern bathtub" to prepare for a handover to Mr. Silverstein. The Port Authority recently said it would not be able to make a contractually set deadline of June 30 to hand over of part of the site to Silverstein Properties.

On the northwest corner of the site, some below-ground levels of the Freedom Tower are now visible, and dozens of workers were hauling materials while two cranes were working to push more of that building above street level. Thick steel beams that will support the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower could be seen rising from the foundation.

Anticipation surrounding Monday's meeting has been building since Mr. Paterson asked Mr. Ward for a comprehensive assessment of schedules and budgets for construction at the World Trade Center site to be presented no later than June 30.

"Unrealistic deadlines were set forth years ago," the president of local Community Board 1, Julie Menin, said in an interview. "There was press conference after press conference about how Lower Manhattan would be built stronger than ever. And people just didn't question all of those deadlines."

The most recent failure was announced earlier this month, when the Port Authority acknowledged that it would not be able to meet a June 30 deadline to complete excavation work and hand over the east bathtub, where Tower 2 is set to rise, to Silverstein Properties.

As a penalty, the Port Authority will have to pay $300,000 a day, beginning July 1, until it turns over the fully completed bathtub, which will not occur until sometime in August.