What's going to happen to all the light rail dirt?

Made brief mention yesterday of this -- but it's worth noting again. Sound Transit has awarded the demolition contract for the light rail station construction area so that means a tear-down schedule is near. That means trucks hauling stuff to and fro will soon be rumbling up and down your streets.

That means it's time for you to pay attention and help Sound Transit make sure life on Capitol Hill doesn't turn into a big fat drag.

You can find out about this and more Wednesday night at the Sound Transit 90% Design open house at Seattle Central Community College. The 90% thing refers to one of the last milestones being reached as the Hill light rail station plan is finalized. The open house part refers to you and all the good questions you're going to ask.

And now, a few things to inspire you.

Here's Sound Transit's overview of their project schedule:

Next phase is the demolition and I-5 ramp work late in 2009 that will close the Olive Way exit for nine months.

You'll also want to memorize this little mantra:
Down Olive
Up Denny

Those are the routes the trucks removing dirt will take during the digging phases -- basically from 2009 to 20013. Down Olive. Up Denny. Down Olive. Up Denny. You get the idea.

Finally, for those of you who are wondering, yes, the Chinese Scholar tree in the northwest corner of the park will be retained. At leat, that's the plan. But, you know, you could ask about it Wednesday night just to be sure.