Under a bridge in Brooklyn, a small table is covered in bricks, candles, a cross and a flag in memory of Department of Transportation workers who died in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Across town, a statue of the Virgin Mary stands before sympathy notes and photos of two firefighters also killed on Sept. 11.

It’s been almost a year since terrorists flew two jetliners into the twin towers, yet the makeshift shrines, set out to honor the more than 2,800 victims, still dot the city’s streets.

“This was such a huge tragedy that everyone felt they could mourn in their own neighborhood. The wide dispersion of the shrines is unique,” said Steve Zeitlin, director of City Lore, a nonprofit group dedicated to recording urban folklore.

Their survival depends on public participation and cooperation.

Each tends to have a shrine keeper, who covers paper objects with plastic and replaces burnt out candles and wilted flower bouquets. Each exists with the consent of landlords or city officials, who allow them to remain on chain link fences, subway stations, parks or street corners.

Louis Rocco, a city transportation worker, said he and his colleagues started the shrine in Brooklyn soon after the attack, and have tended it ever since.

“I still put flowers there all the time, light candles. We had a flag that cost over $600 that got stolen. We replaced it with another flag and secured it better. … We’ll keep it up as long as we can, in respect for the people who died,” he said.

In Grand Central Terminal, some commuters pause to leave flowers or notes, or simply spend a moment at the memorial.

On a recent day, Raymond Dingle stopped by at rush hour, put his hand up to one of the photos and lowered his head. The photo was of his nephew, Jeffrey Dingle, killed on Sept. 11.

“I’m glad to see him but it’s difficult as well. In a way I’m glad the shrine’s there, because they still haven’t found any traces of him,” Dingle said.

Citywide, the outpouring of sympathy and grief after the attacks was so extensive The New-York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York and the Smithsonian, among other institutions, have collected shrine material for posterity.

“We realized very early on that history was unfolding around us and that some of the material like the shrines would be ephemeral,” said Amy Weinstein, curator in charge of The New York Historical Society’s shrines collection effort.

Near Manhattan’s northern tip, a group of friends spent four nights after the attacks, waiting on a street corner for a friend to return home from the World Trade Center. When he didn’t return, they left candles for him. Then their neighbors began leaving candles, too.

One day, they brought a bookcase and passersby began leaving notes and mementos to accompany the candles. When the shelves were filled, another bookcase was added. Ultimately, the shrine was about 40 feet long, with plastic protecting the paper notes and the victim’s friends carefully relighting the candles night after night.

The shrine, dismantled at the end of the year, is now in the historical society’s collection.

Tom Eccles, director of the nonprofit Public Art Fund, which places artwork throughout the city, compares the shrines to those found in Italy. There, he said, “You see small shrines set up by roadsides and they become more permanent over time.”

Weinstein said it was natural that such shrines should spring up in New York.

“New York is such a street-oriented city. Everybody walks everywhere here,” she said, pointing out that although many of the victims were from New Jersey, the phenomenon had not taken root so deeply there.

“This is a city of artists, so it’s not really surprising that what came out was beautiful and creative and imaginative.

On the Net:

New-York Historical Society: http:///www.nyhistory.org/

Museum of the City of New York: http:///www.mcny.org/