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Sunday, May 26, 2002

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Pennsylvania Turnpike planners have held more than 250 mostly small, private and neighborhood meetings and dozens of large ones over the past five years about plans for the northern section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway.

Some of the most decisive meetings, essentially the final round for public input, will be held over the next two months.

Project officials began delivering copies of a federally required Draft Environmental Impact Statement Friday to 71 locations in Allegheny County. The distribution must be finished by Friday in order to provide the mandatory 75-day public review and comment period that expires Aug. 14.

The package of documents evaluates alignments for the 24-mile, Y-shaped section of expressway between Route 51 in Jefferson Hills and the Parkway East in Pittsburgh and Monroeville.

The papers also assess such things as traffic, air, parks, waterways and historic structures, and constitute the application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to proceed with final design, property acquisition and road construction.

Before the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and Army Corps of Engineers hold three joint public hearings in July, turnpike officials and consultants will hold four "open house" meetings starting next month, where those attending will be able to view detailed wall maps, ask questions and talk with engineers and right-of-way specialists.

Information also will be available on historic and archaeological resources, a requirement of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Here's the schedule of open houses, all of which will run from 1 to 8 p.m., when people can come and go as they wish:

June 13 -- Monroeville, at the Monroeville Expo Mart, Business Route 22.

June 18 -- Braddock, at Braddock Volunteer Fire Department No. 2 Social Hall, 845 Talbot Ave.

June 25 -- Hazelwood, at Burgwin Elementary School, 5401 Glenwood Ave.

July 9 -- West Mifflin, at West Mifflin High School, 91 Commonwealth Ave.

At the public hearings to follow, residents and public officials will have an opportunity to give oral testimony to the group (up to five minutes) or privately to a stenographer or using a tape recorder in a separate room. Written testimony can be submitted at the hearing or mailed by the Aug. 14 conclusion of the public comment period.

Private testimony will be taken from 1 to 9 p.m., and formal presentations and public testimony will be heard from 2 to 6 p.m., on these dates and at the following places:

July 16 -- West Mifflin High School.

July 23 -- Burgwin Elementary School.

July 25 -- Pittsburgh Expo Mart, Monroeville.

People can preregister to speak to the group at the more formal public hearings by calling Lisa Yackovich, public involvement coordinator for the turnpike, at 724-755-5261 weekdays.

The turnpike will not accept testimony sent by e-mail.

The environmental impact study documents -- a total of five volumes -- are available at most Carnegie, Community College of Allegheny County and local libraries and municipal buildings throughout the 24-mile Mon-Fayette Expressway corridor.

Copies also are available at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's western regional office at Arona Road exit of turnpike 66 near New Stanton; the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 11 Engineering Office in Collier; Pittsburgh Planning Department, 200 Ross St.; and Allegheny County Economic Development Department and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, both in the Regional Enterprise Tower, at 425 Sixth Ave., Downtown.

The public also can obtain a copy in CD-ROM form, all on a single compact disc, for a nominal fee by calling 724-755-5263.