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Sunday, March 31, 2002

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The first all-new highway in Allegheny County in 10 years will open April 12, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the southern end of dual bridges carrying the Mon-Fayette Expressway over Route 51 in Large, Jefferson Hills.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has finished the final 13 miles of the 17-mile section that goes south to I-70 near Speers and then links to a previously built seven-mile section past California and Brownsville in Washington County, creating 24 continuous miles of the toll road.

Only four miles of the latest section lie in Allegheny County, all in Jefferson Hills.

Construction of another 24 miles, constituting the northern section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and costing $2 billion, is still years off. A federally required environmental study of the highway corridor is supposed to be made public in May.

The Airport Expressway, part of Route 60, was the last all-new highway to be built in Allegheny County.

The 7.5-mile, limited-access road serving the Midfield Terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport cost $190 million, or about $25 million a mile, including design, rights of way and construction.

The 17 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway to open one week from Friday cost $588 million, or an average of $33.6 million a mile, including 250-foot-high, dual bridges over Route 88 and Mingo Creek that are the highest on the turnpike system.

Tolls for cars, motorcycles and pickup trucks, payable at coin-toss baskets at interchange ramps and a mainline toll plaza south of Route 51, will be 50 cents or $1, depending on length of the trip. The toll for most tractor-trailers for all 17 miles will be $4.

The first four miles of the 17-mile section opened May 11 between I-70 and Coyle-Curtin Road, also known as the Donora-Charleroi interchange, although it's in Carroll.

The sections are part of what ultimately is to be a 70-mile expressway following the Monongahela River Valley from I-68, east of Morgantown, W.Va., through Fayette, Washington and Allegheny counties to the Parkway East (I-376), with connections in Monroeville and Pittsburgh.

The expressway, along with a related Southern Beltway to the airport, are being developed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as a result of toll-road-expansion legislation passed by the General Assembly in the late 1980s.

Thirty years after ground was broken near Brownsville for what was then called the Mon Valley Expressway, the highway is creeping into Allegheny County.

"We're in the door," said Tom Fox, community involvement coordinator for the project for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

"This portion of expressway is historic for two reasons," he said. "It's the first time it has crossed into Allegheny County, and it marks the end of two of the four legs we're trying to build."

The other completed leg, which goes from Uniontown south to the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, was opened two years ago. The four-mile West Virginia connection to I-68 is under construction but is not likely to be finished for three more years.

A third section, between Uniontown and Brownsville, has been approved for construction by the Federal Highway Administration.

The public will be able to take a traffic-free peek at the newest section leading to Route 51 in Jefferson Hills from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 7, a Community Day on the final 13 miles of the 17-mile section. The access points will be via any northbound ramp, but people driving will have to leave their cars parked around the interchanges.

Buses will operate on the southbound lanes for people wanting to tour the new road. The northbound lanes will be reserved for walking, biking and in-line skating.

The interchanges are located at Coyle-Curtin Road in Carroll; Route 136, signed as the Monongahela-Eighty Four interchange; Finleyville-Elrama Road; and at Route 51 at Large.

The Washington County portion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway will be named after state Sen. Barry J. Stout, D-Bentleyville, who has been instrumental in earmarking state transportation funds to finance toll-road expansion.

"I'm glad they aren't naming it the Barry Stout Memorial Highway," Stout has joked many times.

The General Assembly has named four interchanges in honor of local servicemen who received Medals of Honor for heroism in military combat.

*Mon-Fayette Expressway at I-70 -- Army Col. Walter J. Marm Jr., a Washington, Pa., native. Armed with only a rifle, he charged over open ground and, despite being wounded, killed enemy machine gunners holed up in la Drang Valley in Vietnam on Nov. 14, 1965.

*Coyle-Curtin Road -- Marine Col. Mitchell Paige, a Charleroi native. As a noncommissioned officer serving in the Solomon Islands during World War II, he commanded a machine gun section that held off Japanese attackers until reinforcements arrived, and then led a bayonet charge to drive back the enemy on Oct. 26, 1942.

*Finleyville-Elrama Road -- Army Air Corps Sgt. Archibald Mathies of Finleyville. An engineer and a gunner, he took over the controls of the damaged plane he was on and, with other crew members, managed to right it and fly it back to base after a German fighter plane attacked, seriously wounding the pilot and killing the copilot. The plane crashed on a third attempt to land on Feb. 20, 1944.

*Mon-Fayette Expressway at Route 51 -- Army Capt. Reginald Desiderio, a Clairton native. The infantry commander directed his troops defending a command post Nov. 15, 1950, during the Korean War. Although he ended up mortally wounded, Desiderio's charge with rifle, carbine and grenades set the example that spurred his company to repel the final attack.

Marm and Paige are still living and are expected to attend the 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

At the same time, the turnpike will name the Big Six-Fairchance Interchange south of Uniontown in honor of Army Cpl. Alfred L. Wilson, a native of Fairchance. Wilson, an Army medic in World War II, was fatally wounded in a battle in France but refused evacuation and helped save the lives of at least 10 wounded comrades.

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Mon-Fayette Expressway Schedule

Sunday, April 7 -- Community Day on 13 miles of the 17-mile section between I-70, Fallowfield, and Route 51, Jefferson Hills. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Park at any of the interchanges, using the northbound ramps. The northbound side will be off-limits to motor vehicles and reserved for walking, biking and skating. Free tour buses will run on the southbound lanes.

Friday, April 12 -- At 10 a.m., a separate ceremony will be held near the Coyle-Curtin Road interchange in Carroll to unveil a sign naming the Washington County section of the expressway for Stout. After the ceremony, a military convoy will lead a procession north to Jefferson Hills.

At 11 a.m., the ribbon-cutting ceremony will get under way at the north end of dual bridges carrying the expressway over Route 51. Gov. Mark Schweiker is expected to attend. The public is invited. Hospitality tents will be located at the site.

At 3 p.m., the highway will be opened to traffic. The toll for cars will be 50 cents at intermediate interchanges and $1 for those who travel all 17 miles. At the same time, the toll at the mainline barrier on the adjacent piece of expressway near California, Pa., will go up a quarter, to 75 cents.