Turnpike Commission committed to finishing Mon-Fayette and Southern Beltway
Pittsburgh will no longer be a city without a full beltway encircling it after two long-stalled toll roads are completed under new state funding streams.
The state Turnpike Commission next year will resume engineering and environmental impact studies to complete the Mon-Fayette Expressway to Monroeville and further plans on finishing the final section of the Southern Beltway from Interstate 79 to Gastonville, projects that have been dormant for five years, commission spokesman Karl DeFebo Jr. said.
“The last two sections are in final design. They’re serious about that,” said commission spokesman Tom Fox, who has followed the progress of the existing 60 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway for the past 24 years.
The expressway currently connects Allegheny County to Morgantown, W.Va., and includes a 17-mile corridor across eastern Washington County.
The unfinished 14-mile expressway section will cost $1.75 billion. It will tie into the toll road in Large, Allegheny County, and connect to to the Parkway West near Monroeville.
When completed, motorists traveling west from the Monroeville area to Pittsburgh International Airport will be able to drive there on limited access highways by following the expressway south to the beltway west at Gastonville. That rerouted traffic will reduce congestion at the Squirrel Hill and Fort Pitt tunnels.
One section of the beltway is open from the airport to Route 22, where construction already started on the second link to I-79.
While appearing before the state Transportation Commission in June, the Turnpike Commission presented written testimony on its plan to complete the two highway projects.
“For the first time, a viable financial plan has been developed that funds these projects through completion without the need for additional funding sources,” the commission stated in the testimony.
DeFebo said the state gasoline tax approved under former Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration will raise money to complete the projects. In addition, the annual payment from the commission to the state will be reduced from $500 million to $50 million in 2023, creating a second source of money for the roads, he said.
The proposed expressway section from Route 51 into Pittsburgh was scrapped because it would require the displacement of too many houses and businesses, and there also are environmental concerns on that corridor, DeFebo said.
Construction could begin on the Monroeville expressway link in three years, Fox said. The 13-mile, $670 million beltway link under construction is expected to open by 2020.
“The recent decision of the Pa. Turnpike Commission to restart planning and design for the Mon-Fayette Expressway project north of Route 51 is to be applauded,” said Joe Kirk, executive director of the Mon Valley Progress Council.
Kirk said the completed expressway will provide better access to Mon Valley brownfields that need to be redeveloped.