Great news
There was some news coming out of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and for once it didn’t involve toll increases.
In fact, this news was absolutely great as the commission announced that it had given the green light to nine consulting firms to restart the study and design process for extending the Mon/Fayette Expressway for 14 miles to Interstate 376, also known as the Parkway East in Monroeville.
The project had been halted back in 2009 because of funding problems. However, it’s being revived thanks to the passage of Act 89 in 2013, which provided the commission with $86 million. That money is being used for roughly $1 billion in bonds to pay for the expressway extension along with the last two legs of the Southern Beltway from the Mon/Fayette Expressway to the Pittsburgh International Airport.
However, the commission did announce that it had eliminated for financial reasons a 10-mile leg of the expressway along the north shore of the Monongahela River from East Pittsburgh to the I-376 interchange at Bates Street in Pittsburgh.
That did eliminate any direct connection to Pittsburgh, which was the goal of the expressway, when it was first discussed in the 1960s. Back then, it was called the Mon Valley Expressway with the goal of linking I-70 near Charleroi to Pittsburgh.
Mon Valley residents had long tired of all the traffic jams on routes 51 and 88, and sought a more direct and modern highway leading directly to Pittsburgh.
However, financing was difficult, and the project languished for a number of years. In the mid-1980s, the state Legislature directed the Turnpike Commission to undertake the project. Fayette County officials also seeking a more direct link with Pittsburgh, then jumped aboard, leading the name of the highway to be changed to the Mon/Fayette Expressway.
But there were all kinds of controversy back then. Pittsburgh officials had demanded that their section be built first. Officials in the Mon Valley and Fayette County fought back. They wanted their sections built first, fearing their parts of the highway would never be built if the Pittsburgh section was constructed first.
All the talk was for naught, though, as a number of Pittsburgh residents opposed building the highway. They claimed it would destroy numerous neighborhoods in the city, forcing many residents to relocate outside the city. Construction costs were also astronomical as thousands of houses would have to be torn down.
Turnpike officials then turned toward the Mon Valley and Fayette County, where construction could be done much cheaper and easier. Another big factor was that Mon Valley and Fayette County residents embraced the expressway as the key to a better future. There was no opposition here like there was in Pittsburgh.
So, the Mon Valley sections were built first, followed by the Fayette County sections, and when it was over, local residents had a 64-mile, modern highway stretching from the West Virginia border to Jefferson, about 20 miles outside of Pittsburgh.
While the expressway won’t extend into Pittsburgh, the stretch from Monroeville to the city is only 14 miles and will give local motorists many options in traveling that area. One good thing is that with the extension, motorists will be able to avoid Route 51, with its endless traffic lights and congestion.
The extension of the expressway combined with the eventual completion of the Southern Beltway from the Mon/Fayette Expressway to the Pittsburgh International Airport will not only make it easier for local motorists to get around but also truly open the area up to economic development. If everything develops as planned, Fayette County and the Mon Valley will finally be situated in one of the most modern highway networks in the country.
Of course, it won’t happen overnight and there will be obstacles along the way. But considering all the blood, sweat and tears that went into building the Mon/Fayette Expressway from scratch, it certainly seems doable. Now if we can just do something about those exorbitant tolls on the expressway, then we’ll really be in the clear.