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Along the West Side Highway yesterday, two realities existed side- by-side. In one, New Yorkers walked their dogs, rode their bicycles, and skated along the bike path. In the other, the massive recovery effort transformed the three-mile-long stretch of roadway into one giant staging area.
Dump trucks loaded with debris rumbled into the 59th Street waste transfer station, now guarded by FBI agents. Once inside, the trucks deposited their loads on barge DS128, which will be towed to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.
The right lane from 34th Street to 59th Street has been cordoned off for emergency vehicles, and Verizon workers installed 200 phone lines at Pier 94, the new command center. Nine blocks south, FBI agents armed with shotguns guarded the entrance to the Intrepid Sea- Air-Space Museum, which is closed.
All along the road, a procession of onlookers were drawn south. At Christopher Street, hundreds of Battery Park City residents waited to retrieve possessions from their apartments. "Anybody for 380 Rector?" an official on a megaphone called.