New Jersey in The 21st Century - September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

In the morning of September 11, 2001, hijackers took control of four domestic U.S. commercial airliners. All of the planes crashed, none of them in New Jersey; however, two of them crashed into the two tallest towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, which collapsed within two hours (and was seen from the Gold Coast in New Jersey), and Todd Beamer, of New Jersey, is thought to have played a role in bringing down Flight 93 short of the terrorists' intended target. The destruction of the twin towers could be seen from New Jersey. The official count records 2,986 deaths in the attacks, including around 700 residents of New Jersey. Over 160,000 people were evacuated from the Manhattan area to New Jersey because the subways had been closed down and PATH station had been closed down and were eventually destroyed in the collapse.

After the attack, the World Trade Center station remained closed for two years. The Exchange Place station was also forced to close due to flooding of the PATH transit tunnel. PATH service to Lower Manhattan was restored in 2003 after the opening of a temporary station on the World Trade Center site. In the intervening time period, transit service to Lower Manhattan was largely covered by rapid expansion of NY Waterway ferry service.

Many schools in New Jersey closed for the day, evacuated, or were locked-down. The destruction of 30% (28.7 million sq ft) of Lower Manhattan office space accelerated the pre-2001 trend of moving jobs from Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey. Many questioned whether this loss of jobs and its associated tax base would ever be restored.