SOMERSET — A contract will likely be awarded by October or November for the construction of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Western Pennsylvania, a National Park Service official said.

Joanne Hanley, National Park Service superintendent, said at a meeting of the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force and the Flight 93 Advisory Commission that a major obstacle was overcome last month when officials reached a deal to acquire the 275-acre crash site.

"With this logjam broken, the river will flow," Hanley said at Saturday's meeting. "It's a very exciting time."

Hanley said she wants to have finished construction drawings by June. She said she hopes to solicit bids in July and August and have proposals due in September.

The goal is to have the $58 million memorial and national park ready for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was diverted by hijackers. The official 9/11 Commission report said the hijackers crashed the plane while passengers tried to take control of the cockpit.

Also at the meeting, Park Service worker Barbara Black said she is continuing to ask people what they would like in a visitors center. Also, Black said work is proceeding on oral histories surrounding Flight 93. More than 400 interviews have been conducted, she said.

"The messages are still as emotional, as strong, as they were seven years ago," she said.