They all had the same thought: The Mon-Fayette Expressway is in their future, so they might as well work with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to make it as palatable as possible.

They also had the same fear: that the turnpike commission would use them as a facade to say they had sought public comments and then ignored everything they had to say.

But so far, the community members of the design advisory teams for the expressway have been pleasantly surprised.

In Turtle Creek the turnpike is planning to build the highway on bridges 90 feet high, so the road isn't very noticeable as people drive through the business district. The higher elevation will also allow more light to filter down below the highway.

In Braddock, instead of the 30-foot berm that was supposed to cut the town in two, the commission is now talking about raising the road on a structure that will save the 4 Kids Early Learning Center and allow for a better flow between Braddock Avenue and the riverbank.

Dravosburg will also see a better plan, as the intersection of Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard and the exit ramps have been changed for better traffic flow through the borough.

They were all changes made because the members of the community wanted them.

Frank Kempf, an engineer with the turnpike commission, said the idea of the teams is to look at the roadway from the other side of the white lines.

He said the design advisory teams were put together to take the focus off the experience of driving along the highway and onto the experience of living next to a toll road.

"We're paying attention to the view of the people who are living there and shopping there. That's really very important," Kempf said.

Noreen Kelly, of Turtle Creek, was an early skeptic of the design advisory committee.

"My first question was 'Is this just to have a meeting to say 'Oh, we've done public outreach?' " But that's not my experience at all," she said.

Now, as a founding member of the Turtle Creek Design Advisory Team, Mrs. Kelly is able to reach into a tote bag and pull out a binder, three inches thick, to show some of the potential designs of the roadway as it goes through her borough. The binder, in part, contains renderings of how the roadway would look at various elevations, including 60 and 90 feet. In those pictures, as the highway goes up, it's less and less intrusive on the surrounding landscape.

The team members decided the 90-foot structure would be best for their borough and now, she said, they are trying to figure out where the support pillars should be and how they should look, hexagonal or rectangular for instance.

The advisory team is also trying to keep the bridge pillars from blocking any of the three churches that sit alongside the highway's path.

"There is so much to think about that you never thought about," Mrs. Kelly said. "Now when we're driving around I find myself looking at the way the roads are constructed and what the pillars look like."

Then there is the underside of the highway.

"One thing we don't want under the bridge is a place for pigeons to roost," she said.

Mr. Kempf said the pigeon issue is still not resolved, but "it's something we're going to take into account here."

The experience in Dravosburg has been very similar.

"I wanted to be on the team because the highway is coming through my backyard," said Jeanne Hoffman, who lives in the Riverview section of the borough.

She said though "I probably can't make a difference but at least I will have all the information."

Now, Mrs. Hoffman said, she has been impressed with how much influence the team is having in shaping the look of the roadway and she is on a subcommittee about a small park that could be built near the highway.

Ron Urbansky, of Dravosburg, who is also a member of the advisory team, said the turnpike is considering using land that will be left vacant for building new housing or an industrial park.

"I was surprised by how well they worked with us. It's really been a good adventure," Mr. Urbansky said.

Mr. Kempf said the model for the community advisory teams, who meet regularly with architects, engineers and facilitators, came from the $2.4 billion project to replace the old Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Beltway around Washington, D.C.

Mr. Kempf said the planners to build the 12-lane bridge over the Potomac River consulted with the neighbors on both the Virginia and Maryland sides of the bridge. He said the turnpike commission adapted the model to the Mon Valley.

"We said, let's form five groups to address the legitimate issues of these communities," he said.

The Braddock Design Advisory Team started very much like the others, with the members of the community going into the meetings concerned about the outcome and skeptical about the commission's motives.

Former Braddock Mayor Pauline Abdullah said the road designers have been willing to work with the concerns from the residents.

"They are seriously listening," she said. "They're not touching any of the churches or any of the historic spots."

Mr. Kempf said the decision to raise the road up onto a bridge over three blocks of Braddock came from the community's fears that the highway would cut Braddock in two.

There is more to discuss in Braddock.

August R. Carlino, the president of the Steel Heritage Corp, which is working to turn the old Carrie Furnaces into a historic attraction, is also a member of the Braddock Design Advisory Team.

"There are still some issues," he said.

Mr. Carlino said the access to the Carrie Furnace site could be better than the current design and, he said, there are plans to widen the road in the Rankin for toll booths.

"Personally I think they should take the toll booths completely out of the Steel Valley," he said.

Mr. Carlino said he is arguing that if the turnpike commission really wants to help the Mon Valley and not build the expressway as a good way to bypass the area, then the ride should be free through the old steel towns to give them an economic boost.

He said there is already a precedent for it, since the Pennsylvania Turnpike is free from Cranberry to the Ohio border.

Overall, Mr. Carlino, like others on the advisory teams, said he was pleased that the planners of the toll road are paying attention to the issues in the communities. He said he has also learned about the limitations of highway construction and how, if in Braddock they wanted a road 50 feet high, it would affect how the highway looked in Turtle Creek and Hazelwood.

Mr. Kempf said most of the issues brought forward by the members of the design advisory teams are issues that the turnpike can work around. He said the planners and engineers look at the issues and bring back possible solutions. Sometimes after looking at the alternatives even the community members agree that some changes aren't worth the cost.

For others, he said, the volunteers on the committee can actually cut the cost of building the highway. That was the case when the design advisory team that covers the section from the Glenwood Bridge to Bates Street suggested reconfiguring the on and off ramps from the expressway to the Glenwood Bridge.