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New highway taking shape Engineers tweak Mon-Fayette plans Sunday, November 29, 1998 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Preliminary plans for the Mon-Fayette Expressway in Allegheny County no longer wipe out all the houses along Randall Street, in an isolated little neighborhood in Curry Hollow, West Mifflin.
A relatively new CompUSA computer store in Wilkins is still to be torn down for a ramp connecting the toll road and Business Route 22, but a replacement store will be built nearby.
And the alignment for the new expressway may be shifted closer to the north shore of the Monongahela River as it passes through Braddock, to eliminate blight and boost redevelopment.
Engineers have made these changes in the past eight months as plans are tweaked to make the northern end of the 65-mile, Pittsburgh-to-West Virginia highway less disruptive and more compatible.
The 24-mile northern end of the $2 billion road is proving the most difficult, said Tom Fox, community relations coordinator for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which is building the road.
The difficulties are "not anything we didn't expect, but this is the crown jewel" segment of the transportation and economic development project, Fox said.
The changes grew out of comments, letters and informal neighborhood meetings that followed articles and a map published in the March 15 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, disclosing details of the road alignment for the first time.
After eight months, engineers have subdivided the northern end of the expressway into five sections for study purposes.
By early February, they hope to be far enough along to begin a series of neighborhood meetings to explain the changes in detail. The meetings may determine how smoothly and quickly the road work moves forward.
"We've been getting our hands on problems and trying to solve them in ways acceptable to the communities and people affected," Fox said. "We will continue to tweak plans until we're ready to build."
The northern end is Y-shaped, beginning at Route 51 in Jefferson Hills and splitting on the north shore of the Monongahela River near East Pittsburgh, with one branch to Business Route 22 and the Parkway East near Monroeville and the other to Braddock and Pittsburgh.
The northern end is expected to take another nine years to design and build. But construction is under way on 25 miles of the expressway in Fayette, Washington and southern Allegheny counties.
By subdividing the Route 51-to-Pittsburgh section, "we'll be concentrating on one section at a time, so we're not juggling too many issues at once," Fox said.
There are other developments on the northern end of the expressway.
LaQuatra Bonci Associates Inc. of the South Side, architects hired to put special aesthetic and landscape features into the expressway, are preparing renderings of how the road will look from different angles.
"This will make it easier for people to visualize how the expressway will look in their neighborhoods," Fox said. "Most people find blueprints are too technical."
LaQuatra Bonci also is preparing computer-enhanced videos of certain segments. "That explains the helicopters buzzing the Mon Valley," Fox said. "Some people will be able to take a high-tech virtual drive over the road during neighborhood meetings or on the Internet."
The turnpike also has been communicating with two railroads to assess routing the expressway into Pittsburgh along the south shore of the Monongahela River instead of the north shore, where it's now proposed.
Norfolk Southern, which has taken over Conrail, has been asked about relocating 10 to 25 miles of track along the riverfront and sharing a right of way with CSX, which sits back from the riverfront. CSX has been asked if it is willing to make room for a competitor.
Norfolk Southern officials have told the turnpike they're not happy with the idea.
H. Craig Lewis, vice president of corporate affairs, said the railroad anticipates increasing freight traffic through the South Side. He said it will be at least three years before the railroad could "properly entertain discussions about alternative uses of existing right of way."
Turnpike officials have not heard from CSX.
Nonetheless, Fox said, engineers are still studying the alignment as an alternative to building the expressway through Glenwood and Hazelwood on the north shore of the Mon.
After the turnpike finishes neighborhood meetings this winter and in early spring, at least two public hearings will be held covering the whole northern section.
Fox said the turnpike hopes to have a draft environmental impact study ready to submit to federal agencies by late next year, in anticipation of a federal "record of decision" by mid-2000. A record of decision gives an agency authorization to go ahead with final design, property acquisition, utility relocation and, ultimately, construction.
The latest target date for completing all segments of the Route 51-to-Pittsburgh part of the expressway is 2008.
So far, the turnpike has spent $17 million on studies and expenses for the northern section. Construction money has not been found yet, but Fox said the turnpike has $170 million to purchase right of way.
The turnpike has financed the project mostly through gasoline and diesel fuel taxes imposed statewide and used to issue bonds.
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