text: Completion of the project was originally set for October 2001, but it was delayed for years due to damage caused by the September 11 attacks. The highway, which runs just west of the World Trade Center, played a major role in the September 11, 2001 attacks and its aftermath.  The famous flag raising photograph by Thomas E. Franklin of The Record took place by the highway on the northwest corner of the site. In addition, three chunks of the tower that crashed into the highway were used in iconic pictures of the day. Emergency personnel went down the West Side Highway and were greeted by cheering crowds at Christopher Street on their return.  Virtually all the debris from the Center traveled up the West Side Highway to be shipped off by barge.  For the last half of the month, out-of-town ambulances waited on the highway for a chance to help injured patients.
  There was debate over whether to rebuild the damaged section of the road as a surface street or a tunnel. As a master plan was developed for Ground Zero, plans initially called for the West Side Highway to be buried in a tunnel between the site and Battery Park City that was expected to cost $1 billion. Goldman Sachs, which had planned to build its headquarters in Battery Park City, announced its intention to cancel those plans because of concerns about the traffic pattern and long-term construction disruptions. This prompted New York Governor George Pataki to cancel the tunnel project in favor of a boulevard. The boulevard was finished by 2014.