University Link: That Was Fast!

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

Just a month after the UW and Sound Transit closed a deal on light rail, the first construction crews have arrived at Husky Stadium to start preliminary work:

Sound Transit (ST) contractors recently began drilling 180-foot-deep holes in two Husky Stadium parking lots as part of the research phase for an underground light rail system, ST and UW officials said.

When they finish, operators from the two drilling rigs will have drilled about 20 holes in the E11, E12 and C12 parking lots. Drilling is estimated to wrap up during the first or second week of July.

The light rail, called U-Link, will run 3.15 miles through Capitol Hill to downtown Seattle. Most of this drilling research is for the train station, which will be built at the same level as the rail itself, about 100 feet underground.

Heavy construction will begin in late ’08 or early ’09.