NEW YORK, NY March 10, 2008 —It wasn't much of a journey - a couple hundred feet at most.

But, it's not often that you see an entire staircase being moved by crane. And for all its bruises, the "survivors staircase" has a real following.

Thousands of people who ran to safety on September 11 ran down those 37 steps.

Tom Canavan remembers the two rescue workers who guided him out of the South Tower's rubble, and down the stairs.

CANAVAN: So they waved me over to there, and I went down on the street. I don't know if those two guys got out after me. I like to think they did. But I'm not sure because when I got to the corner the North Tower came down. Without the staircase I'm not here. That's just a given. That's definite.

REPORTER: The staircase will eventually be housed in the 9/11 museum, which should open in about three years.

For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.