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Says he won't support plan without redesign, rerouting

Wednesday, July 24, 2002

By Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Mayor Tom Murphy said he won't support development of the northern section of the Mon-Fayette Expressway unless interchanges at Bates Street and the Glenwood Bridge are redesigned and the proposed highway is rerouted from the former LTV coke works in Hazelwood.

"We need to protect Hazelwood," said Murphy, the first speaker at a public hearing yesterday at Burgwin Elementary School in Hazelwood.

A group of foundations is trying to buy the 178-acre riverfront site from bankrupt LTV Corp. so it can be turned into a mixed-use development.

Expressing skepticism about the designs and impact of the proposed highway on the city, Murphy ticked off nine reasons to be against the highway and two reasons to support it.

Murphy said the highway will produce sprawl, just as construction of Interstate 279 spurred enormous development in Cranberry "while jumping over a half-dozen Allegheny County municipalities."

He predicted it would increase congestion and harm the environment of riverfronts and city neighborhoods. He said it represents "lost opportunities" to spend the money on other projects and questioned the road's impact on future development.

Murphy's only two reasons to support the highway were that it was a regional effort and that it would decrease congestion on some local streets.

Outside the hearing room, Murphy said his comments were consistent with his previous statements and his overall philosophy about the highway, which he said offers no benefits to the city and a potential loss of property and tax revenue.

"In order to trade off some of that loss, we think you can make it work better for us," Murphy told Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials. "I can support this road, but you must meet certain conditions."

Countering Murphy's skepticism about the highway, Joseph Kirk, chairman of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway Alliance, testified about more than 1,000 letters of support the turnpike commission has received, including 269 from Fayette County, one of the poorest counties in the state.

"People in Fayette County understand the need for regional highway access and they know that highway access brings about jobs," Kirk said.

He said nine major brownfield sites and more than 700 manufacturers employing an estimated 25,000 people are in the corridor.

At yesterday's hearing, opponents and proponents were given five minutes each to spell out their positions.

Thirty-five miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway have been built and opened, mostly in Washington and Fayette counties. The next section, a proposed $2 billion, 24-mile stretch, would go from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills north to the Parkway East, with a Y-shaped split in East Pittsburgh taking the highway to either side of the Squirrel Hill Tunnels.

Last November, Murphy publicly called for the turnpike commission to meet certain conditions, including installing sound barriers, riverfront parks and trails, public art and a landscaped promenade along a tunnel-like stretch through Hazelwood.

Supporters of the highway have been urging Murphy to support the road but the mayor's comments yesterday indicate that he still has plenty of misgivings -- especially about its impact on the neighborhoods around Bates Street, Hazelwood and Duck Hollow.

Murphy said the current design of the interchange where the expressway would connect with the Parkway East near Bates Street in Oakland is unacceptable.

Patrick Hassett, an assistant planning director and the city's liaison on the highway project for 12 years, testified that the current design for the interchange at the Glenwood Bridge would cut into the hillside and damage the environment.

"We are asking that the interchange be downsized so it fits into the neighborhood," Hassett said.

Hassett said the city has offered alternatives for moving the freeway off the LTV site in Hazelwood.

The last of three hearings to solicit public comment about the voluminous environmental impact study on the expressway will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Pittsburgh Expo Mart in Monroeville.