One of my co-workers was playing hockey recently and during a lull a teammate asked about the big mound of dirt at Airport Boulevard and Highway 101 north of Santa Rosa. My colleague didn’t know, so his teammate suggested taking the question to the Road Warrior.

Here’s the answer from Caltrans: The dirt, left over from the Highway 101 widening from Santa Rosa to Windsor, is being stored for use in building up embankments when the Airport Boulevard interchange is rebuilt. The $45.8 million project is scheduled for construction in spring 2012 with completion about two years later.

If for some reason the interchange project is delayed, Caltrans officials said they might haul the dirt away and store it elsewhere in the county.