Commission tables vote on Mon-Fayette project
Completion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway is on hold – still.
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission had planned to vote Monday on the future of the $2.1 billion project, considered to be vital to the Monongahela Valley. But the agency, representing 10 counties, tabled that action.
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi attended the meeting in Pittsburgh and said “pretty stout opposition from Allegheny County” officials resulted in the tabled vote. Construction of the fourth and final section of the 74-mile-long expressway, a Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission project, is estimated to cost $2.16 billion and take up to three decades to complete. Allegheny officials want to further explore whether that money would be better suited for other projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
The expressway currently runs 60 miles from Jefferson Hills, in Allegheny County, to Morgantown, W.Va. That includes 17 miles of roadway in Washington County. The final segment of the toll road, which has been redesigned several times, would cover 14 miles from Jefferson Hills to the Parkway East (Interstate 376) in Wilkins Township, near Monroeville.
SPC is considering the expressway for a list of recommended projects. Maggi doesn’t anticipate a vote on that until at least the May meeting.
“I think completion of the expressway is very important to the Mon Valley,” Maggi said. “The problem is, we’re looking at 20 to 30 years down the road. That’s why there are some questions about it.
“(The project) is in the best interest of the Mon Valley, Washington County and Fayette County.”
Maggi added the expressway decision will impact plans to finish the final section of the Southern Beltway, which would link Interstate 79 near the Washington/Allegheny county line with Gastonville to the east.
A second highway project, at an estimated cost of $23.1 million, also was tabled Monday. That calls for widening 4.17 miles of Interstate 79 northbound from two lanes to three, from slightly north of the Southpointe interchange in Cecil Township to the rest areas near the Alpine Road overpass in South Fayette Township. Maggi said he believes that work will be approved at SPC’s next monthly meeting, April 17.