World Trade Center Beam From 9/11 En Route To Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- Drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway may encounter a solemn procession Wednesday afternoon as a steel beam from the remains of the World Trade Center makes its journey to Toms River.

In a post on Facebook, the Pleasant Plains Volunteer Fire Department said the 17-foot beam, draped with the American flag, is headed for the fire department, where it will become part of a permanent memorial to firefighters and police officers who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center.

It is one of the last pieces of steel from the Twin Towers, the post said. Pleasant Plains Chaplain Lou Lotto spent the last four years petitioning the 911 Commission "to get this sacred piece of steel," the post read.

See the beam being loaded here:

The tractor trailer is being escorted by New Jersey State Police and Pleasant Plains Fire Chief Ryan Parente, and is anticipated to be arriving at the fire department on Clayton Avenue about 3:30 p.m.

The caravan will come south to exit 82 and then get back onto the Parkway northbound to exit 83, Toms River Police Department spokesman Ralph Stocco confirmed, and exiting at 83 to go north up Route 9 to the Pleasant Plains Volunteer Fire Department on Clayton Avenue. Stocco said the caravan, which will be escorted up Route 9 by Toms River Police, is currently expected to arrive about 4 p.m.

At the fire department, Father G. Scott Shaffer of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Toms River will bless the steel beam, along with Lotto, the department chaplain.

"Over the next year we will be collecting donations for the creation of our own memorial paying tribute to the brave firefighters and police officers who lost their lives because of the events of that day," the post said.

"So, when you see that tractor trailer, slow down from your busy day for just a moment," the post says.

(Photos and video courtesy of Ross Jacinto, Pleasant Plains Volunteer Fire Department, used with permission)