CHICAGO, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Former President George Bush, the president's father, helped Mayor Richard Daley open the observation deck at the 1,450-foot Sears Tower Monday for the first time since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The Skydeck on the building's 103rd floor was a major tourist attraction before the Sept. 11 attacks, drawing 1.3 million visitors annually. The observation deck was closed as a precaution the day of the tragedy and security was intensified inside and outside the 110-story gray-glass and steel tower, the nation's tallest building.
Workers must show identification badges every time they enter the building, which is surrounded by a three-foot high wall of 2,000-pound cement traffic barriers capable of stopping a speeding truck.
Access to the Skydeck is via an express elevator in the lobby and visitors must pass through metal detectors and the same type of X-ray machines used at airports to reach the observation floor.
"By reopening this symbol of strength and vitality in America's heartland, you're sending a clear message that terrorists have failed in one of their objectives," Bush said.
Police and federal authorities speculated the Sears Tower may have been a prime target of terrorists in September.
Daley, whose advance schedule did not include a trip to the Skydeck, used the reopening ceremony to invite people to come to Chicago, saying the view was second to none.
Visits to the observatory on the 94th floor of the 1,127-foot John Hancock Center fell 25 percent after the terror attacks before recovering in October.
