Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials are moving quickly to pursue a possible public-private partnership to finance all or part of the northern end of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and two remaining pieces of the Southern Beltway.

The commission sent representatives to Pittsburgh yesterday to meet privately with a 21-member steering committee formed by Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato to advance completion of the last 50 miles and $5.2 billion worth of toll roads, especially the last section of the expressway from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills north to Pittsburgh.

The western end of the Y-shaped section would connect with the Parkway East/Interstate 376 around Bates Street while the eastern end would connect with the parkway in the Monroeville area, thereby creating a bypass of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel as well as a new South Hills link to commercial centers.

Only a day earlier, the five-member turnpike commission voted to seek "expressions of interest" in forming a public-private partnership to finance and to design, engineer, build and/or operate the as yet constructed sections.

So far, 35 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and six miles of the South Beltway are open.

Joe Kirk, executive director of the Mon Valley Progress Council and longtime project proponent, said yesterday's meeting would give members of Mr. Onorato's committee a clearer understanding of the state agency's intentions.

"Originally, we talked about six different scenarios for advancing the expressway and beltway," he said. "I assume [the turnpike commission] has woven its proposal into those, because we've been working with them all along. We're excited by its latest initiative."

Scenarios have included having the turnpike commission complete the final design, acquire rights of way, and pay for railroad and utility relocations. A private investment group could finance all or part of construction in exchange for collecting tolls.

Assuming 50,000 vehicles a day would use the northern end of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, "we've been told [private partners] would pay somewhere between 40 [percent] and 60 percent of construction costs," Mr. Kirk said. "This gives us an idea of the impact of having a private partner."

The steering committee is developing an action plan to be presented next month to a larger group of about 60 interested parties.

Mr. Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl led the group's first meeting Jan. 11, but the news media wasn't notified until it ended.

"Whether the meetings are public is up to [Mr. Onorato]," Mr. Kirk said. "I'm not the spokesman."