Findlay officials have approved the first building projects at the new highway that connects the township with Pittsburgh International Airport, making a homegrown idea come to fruition after 20 years.

In a 3-0 vote last week, Supervisors Ray Chappell, Janet Craig and Tom Gallant approved construction of two distribution centers at the Westport interchange of the Findlay Connector, on Burgettstown Road near Route 30. The six-mile, 50-cent toll road opened two years ago.

Mr. Chappell -- a lifelong resident serving his fourth, six-year term on the board of supervisors -- came up with the idea for the road nearly two decades ago.

"For somebody like myself to start a project like that and see it completed -- the road, and then the real, final completion -- is to see development start. I don't know any better feeling anybody could have because eventually, it's going to help people," Mr. Chappell said in a phone interview after the vote. "And that's always been my goal, to see Findlay Township prosper."

The projects will be built in the newly created Findlay Industrial Park, on land purchased from Imperial Land Corp., the largest private owner of land in the township.

On 16 acres, Al. Neyer Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, will build a 155,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center for the New Jersey-based Appliance Dealers Cooperative, which serves independent, family-owned appliance and electronics stores.

On another 8 acres, a 79,100-square-foot facility will be built for The Okonite Co., an electrical wire and cable manufacturer based in Ramsey, N.J.

"We've been waiting for this," Mr. Gallant, the supervisors' chairman, said before voting in favor of the projects. "When you take that exit to nowhere, there will actually be something there now."

Coraopolis firm Lennon, Smith, Souleret Engineering Inc. is designing both buildings to have similar appearances.

No information was available on construction time lines or the number of jobs that would be created by the new businesses.

The idea behind the Findlay Connector and related development was to draw businesses that could create jobs and bring tax revenue into the township and West Allegheny School District, Mr. Chappell said.

Shortly after Mr. Chappell was elected to the board supervisors in 1987, the township began developing its first comprehensive plan. Mr. Chappell gained local support for his idea of a new road to the airport, which was included in the township's long-term plan, adopted in 1990.

"To take on a project like that was pie-in-the-sky, especially for a little township like Findlay," Mr. Chappell said.

Mr. Chappell and other locals dreamed of the road opening up vacant, formerly strip-mined land to development. Some Allegheny County officials were skeptical, he said.

A city planner told him the road would create urban sprawl. He countered that it would help create jobs.

Mr. Chappell and his allies pressed on, spending countless hours in meetings, making presentations and taking time off to lobby for state support in Harrisburg.

The original idea was for a two-lane road that would extend to Moon-Clinton Road, Mr. Chappell said. But over time, it grew to a $225 million, four-lane toll road stretching directly to the airport.

In the end, many people cooperated to achieve construction of the highway, extension of water and sewer service to hundreds of acres of available land, and now, business development.

This month -- during the first year of his fourth term -- Mr. Chappell was delighted to approve plans for the new distribution centers.

"It was a long, hard battle to get it done," he said.