Preliminary work is paving the way for the first mile of the Sacramento Regional Transit District's newest light rail line, which will one day run to Sacramento International Airport. A contractor's crew has begun identifying the location of utilities — water, sewer, electric and phone lines — that must be relocated before the tracks for the new "green line"are laid. The line will initially span a little more than a mile, starting downtown at the Sacramento County courthouse at Eighth and H streets and running north to a terminus at Seventh Street and Richards Boulevard. The new line is now expected to open in January 2011, rather than November as initially reported, said RT spokeswoman

Officials broke ground Monday on the city's newest light-rail line. The first segment of Sacramento Regional Transit District's "green line" will run just more than a mile, from downtown north to the River District. Eventually, the line will carry public transit riders to Sacramento International Airport. "It's the first great step to a complete transportation system. This is going to connect everything together," said U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, standing at the future site of the line's initial terminus, 7th Street and Richards Boulevard. "We have an investment in an expanded airport. We're going to have to have another way to get there — and that's going to be light rail." The line will s