NEW YORK CITY-While not expected to receive much fanfare, portions of the blue fence that for 13 years has fenced off the 16-acre World Trade Center redevelopment site from downtown are slated to be taken down this year.

Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, says he is "100%" sure the dismantling of some of the blue fence will take place this year, perhaps as early as May when the 9/11 Memorial Museum on the site is scheduled to open.

Once the fence is down, local residents, business and property owners have maintained that travel will be easier in the area and will prompt more people to live and work in and around the property, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"It's something I have been looking forward to for a long time," says Sept. 11 memorial designer Michael Arad. "The design of the memorial has always been about connecting the site back to the city and making this part of the city whole again."

While most agree that portions of the fence will be torn down this year, there does not appear to be a concrete plan for doing so and what security measures will need to be taken once the fencing has been eliminated. See story in the Wall Street Journal.