[FONT=Verdana]Ground Zero will soon rumble with demolition to prepare footings for the Freedom Tower. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Test blasts beneath The Pit's concrete floor - more than 85 feet below street level - will be set off Monday, a spokesman for developer Larry Silverstein said yesterday. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]If the demolition passes a review by the Port Authority and Fire Department, blasting will continue every other weekday, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., over the next two months. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We're not expecting it to be heard on Church St., but we do expect people to hear it along Vesey St.," said Mel Ruffini, Tishman Construction's Freedom Tower project manager. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]There will be up to four blasts a day and each should resonate about 15 seconds, he said. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Tishman estimates the rock-loosening bangs will save 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which would be needed for hammer-like hoe rams to do the job. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"It's very hard rock," Ruffini added. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Silverstein retained Tishman to build the 1,776-foot office tower in the northwest corner of the site, at Vesey and West Sts. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The Port Authority, whose New Jersey-bound PATH trains run near the blast site, said it will display demolition alerts at the WTC station on Monday. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Trains will be held in the station during blasts. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The Fire Department will post notices on nearby streets. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Paul Goldstein, district manager of downtown's Community Board 1, said blasting "seems to have become a more popular method of digging these days. We have it on the MTA's South Ferry project and on the city's water tunnel No. 3." [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]He added, "We're sort of keeping an open mind [on Freedom Tower rumbles], I guess, because we've had experience with it." [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Meanwhile, the WTC performing arts center - due to rise just east of the Freedom Tower - inched closer yesterday to a still-distant opening night. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. extended the contract of architect Frank Gehry, previously picked to design the center, until next June. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The move comes four weeks after Gehry told the Daily News his design work was on hold because he had "no idea" about the timetable for the project. [/FONT]