"Pipe-bursting" technology and "smart" traffic lights are expected to address two of the problems that might arise from the $70 million expansion of the VA health-care center in O'Hara, often called the Aspinwall Veterans Hospital.

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to pay for any sewer upgrades needed to serve the H. John Heinz III Progressive Care Center, O'Hara Manager Julie Jakubec said.

O'Hara and the VA also are discussing traffic lights proposed for the center's Delafield Road entrance and at the intersection of Fox Chapel and Delafield roads.

The 254,000-square-foot expansion is expected to be finished in 2009. O'Hara officials and those who live near the site have expressed concern about its effect on sewer lines and roads.

Sewage from the VA center is pumped to lines that pass through Aspinwall. The expanded facility will rely on gravity to carry its waste water through O'Hara collector lines on its way to the Alcosan treatment plant.

Capacity studies are under way, Ms. Jakubec said. After they are finished, a decision will be made on how much, if any, sewer pipe will have to be replaced.

"If additional sanitary flow from the VA project [results in] an overload of the existing system, the VA will, at its own expense, provide financial assistance to the township to perform required upgrades," agency spokesman David E. Cowgill said in a statement.

Pipe-bursting technology offers an alternative to digging long, narrow trenches to replace broken pipes or install larger sewer lines.

After an entry hole is dug at one end of a sewer line, a pipe-bursting tool, a combination of a heavy hammer and cutting blades, is run through old pipe. The tool breaks apart the existing concrete or ceramic line, creating a wider hole into which a protective sleeve and new line can be installed.

The result is less digging and damage to existing landscaping, Ms. Jakubec said.

When the expansion is finished, morning and afternoon peak traffic at the center is expected to more than double. Projections call for 419 vehicles to travel to or from the VA center between 7:15 and 8:15 a.m. and 472 between 3:15 and 4:15 p.m. Current counts are 175 in the morning and 197 in the afternoon. Those VA statistics were released this month at a community forum on the project for neighbors and municipal officials.

Few vehicles travel Delafield Road during most of the day. For that reason, "smart" technology will allow the two new lights to turn red only when sensors detect the presence of vehicles at the intersections.

O'Hara is seeking 100 percent federal funding for the entrance signal and 90 percent funding for the light at Fox Chapel and Delafield roads. "The discussion has been give and take," Ms. Jakubec said. "We are working toward resolving our issues."

O'Hara officials have asked that the VA improve communications between its security staff and township police, she said.

Work in O'Hara is one element of a $200 million project that includes expansion of the VA facility in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood.

Major project elements in O'Hara include an ambulatory care clinic, an administration building and on-site rehabilitation units for veterans who have completed substance-abuse programs. Before patients return to their communities, they would be assigned to what are being called "residential villas."

Demolition of existing buildings on the VA campus began in October 2005 and is almost finished. Groundbreaking for the villas and administration building is expected before the end of the year, Mr. Cowgill said.

The VA property is in O'Hara, abuts Fox Chapel and is a few hundred feet from the border of Aspinwall. While federal officials have met on several occasions with municipal officials, some neighbors have said they have not been kept informed about the project.

"We still have unanswered questions about funding," said Eric Hamilton, whose O'Hara home is next to the VA property. He was concerned that Congress has not allocated all the money needed to finish the expansion.

The VA has approved a $200 million budget for the dual projects, Mr. Cowgill said. Legislators then provide money for the year in which it will be needed, he said.

State Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., have proposed allocating $40 million for next year to allow an early start for construction of the ambulatory care building.

If Congress approves that request, those funds would not raise the overall budget for the project but advance the timetable for its completion, Mr. Cowgill said.

Because sewage from the VA center would continue to be treated at the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority plant, the federal agency would have to submit a planning module to Alcosan if the daily flow were to increase.

No application had been received, according to Nancy Barylak, a spokeswoman for Alcosan. "Before we can sign off on any project, we have to know how many more gallons will flow daily to the plant and make sure we can handle them," she said.

"The VA will continue to coordinate any necessary changes in sanitary sewers with the appropriate township and state officials," Mr. Cowgill wrote. The VA "and O'Hara officials continue to work jointly to design an upgrade for the O'Hara system that resolves existing flow concerns and provides additional capacity to meet Alcosan requirements."

The VA Pittsburgh Health Care System, the formal name of the Veterans Affairs facilities in O'Hara and Oakland, has a Web site offering updates on construction projects. The address is www.va.gov/pittsburgh. Click on the tab for Major Construction Projects Home on the left side of the page.