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Sound Transit — and especially its Central Link Light Rail project — have come a long way in the past year-and-a-half. Link Light Rail cost projections rose from $2.5 billion to $3.6 billion. Public confidence waned and the director of the light rail program, as well as the agency’s executive director, resigned. Then-Chief Operating Officer Joni Earl took over as acting ED and began straightening out the house.



But June 6, Sound Transit’s board granted Earl (who’s been ED for nearly a year) authority to execute two contracts seen as key to beginning construction on Central Link.



R.W. Rhine will receive the contract for site preparation of the Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle’s SoDo Neighborhood. Under a separate contract, have Sabre Communications Corp. will design and manufacture 21 steel poles and anchor bolt cages, which will be used to replace major Seattle City Light transmission lines.



Despite the clear movement toward making Central Link a reality, Earl cautioned that important issues remain to be resolved.



"We will not award the contract until the Federal Transit Administration gives us the go-ahead," said Earl in a prepared statement. "Today’s decision means we are ready to get started."



The agency had budgeted more than $15 million for the maintenance base site preparation and more than $2 million for the pole procurement. The contracts to be executed would be for $5 million (plus a 15 percent contingency) and $1 million, respectively.



Seattle Mayor and former Finance Committee Chair Greg Nickels explained that site preparation budgets typically are very conservative because agencies can’t count on the value of material salvaged from the site. In this case, the contractor will be able to recover a substantial portion of their costs from materials salvaged during site preparation, the agency said.