The National Park Service will award contracts this spring to build a two-lane access highway from Route 30 to the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville.

The 2.3-mile highway is supposed to be finished by July 2011 in time for the planned opening of the memorial two months later on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

PennDOT has completed the design work for the road and will supply the money for its construction, but the Park Service will put out the bids and hire the contractor.

Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, after passengers fought with terrorist hijackers for control of the plane. All 40 passengers and crew died in the crash along with the four terrorists.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.