Highways are an integral part of our public works. Everybody uses roads, for business and pleasure. In southwestern Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's proposed development of two new expressways could have significant impacts on the quality of life.
         Completion of the proposed Mon/Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway will create about 100 miles of new limited-access roadway south and west of Pittsburgh. Together, they will represent a $2.4 billion investment in the region's transportation infrastructure.
         The Mon/Fayette Expressway would stretch about 65 miles south from Pittsburgh through the Monongahela River Valley and western Fayette County to Interstate 68 in West Virginia, just east of Morgantown. It would improve access to redevelopment sites in the economically depressed Mon River towns where the steel industry once flourished. It would also provide faster, more convenient travel options for through traffic, particularly commercial vehicles,. now using north-south arteries such as PA Route 51, PA Route 88, Pa Route 40 (our historic National Road) and PA Route 857.
         Two small sections of the Mon/Fayette are in operation. One is a six-mile toll road between Interstate 70 and U.S. Route 40 that was built by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) at a cost of $64 million and turned over to the Turnpike Commission upon its opening in 1990. The other is the non-toll, 3.5- mile Chadville Demonstration Project linking U.S. Route 119 and Pa. Route 857 south of Uniontown. It also was built by PENNDOT, at a cost of $28 million, and opened in 1992.
         The proposed Southern Beltway would run between the Mon/Fayette Expressway near Finleyville and the Southern Expressway (Pa. Route 60) at Pittsburgh International Airport. This will improve east-west mobility in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
         These proposed highways are among a number of new toll roads the state legislature authorized the Turnpike Commission to design, construct and operate. State legislators believe the Turnpike Commission is in a better position to tackle these economic development projects given PENNDOT's existing responsibilities and future workload. The Turnpike Commission is currently responsible for 506 miles of highway and is able to maintain its system with toll revenue. PENNDOT is responsible for maintaining about 44,000 miles of roads and must rely on federal appropriations and the state's gasoline taxes, vehicle registration fees and licensing charges to finance maintenance and new construction.
         To date, more than $800 million worth of Turnpike expansion or enhancement projects specified in Act 61 of 1985 have been completed. In western Pennsylvania, completed projects include the 17-mile Beaver Valley Expressway in Beaver and Lawrence counties and the 13-mile Greensburg Bypass in Westmoreland County. The Beaver Valley and Greensburg projects were the first expansions of the Pennsylvania Turnpike system since the 110-mile Northeast Extension between Philadelphia and Scranton was completed in 1957.
         Pennsylvania Act 26 of 1991 added the 30-mile Southern Beltway to the list of new toll roads. It also established, for the first time, a continuous source of outside funding to help the Turnpike Commission advance these proposed expansions. Since 1992, the Turnpike Commission has been receiving a share of the state's Oil Franchise Tax that amounts to about $40 million annually.
         By earmarking a share of Oil Franchise Tax receipts for the Turnpike Commission state lawmakers acknowledged that the agency could not be expected to continue to build new toll roads while properly maintaining its existing system, much of which dates back to 1940, without outside funding.
         Federal lawmakers have come to the same realization. Before 1987, no federal tax dollars could be used for the development of new toll roads. Today, toll road projects are eligible for up to 80 percent federal funding. So far, the Turnpike Commission has received $24 million in direct federal funding. The commission is attempting to procure additional federal and state dollars to help cover the cost of designing and building new toll roads. Turnpike officials also are exploring new, innovative financing options, including participation by the private sector.
         To ensure that the Mon/Fayette and Southern Beltway projects qualify for federal funds, the Turnpike Commission is following planning guidelines established under the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act and the 1991 U.S. Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. These regulations mandate that major transportation projects be planned and developed in an environmentally sensitive manner that addresses agency and public input.
         Excluding the short, completed sections referenced above, as well as a short stretch of U.S. Route 119 in the Uniontown area, the 65-mile Mon/Fayette corridor encompasses four independent transportation projects that are being planned so they could work together as a cohesive whole for regional benefit. The Turnpike has received final environmental clearance from the federal government on two of the four projects - a 12-mile expressway from the West Virginia line north to the southern end of the Chadville Demonstration Project at Fairchance, and a 17-mile expressway north from Turnpike Route 43 and Interstate 70 to Pa. Route 51 at Large in Jefferson Borough. The "Mason-Dixon Link" , including 4.3 miles south of the Pennsylvania line that will be built as a non-toll highway by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, is scheduled to open in late 1999. The expressway from I-70 to Route 51 is scheduled to open in late 2000.
         The Turnpike Commission and its consultants are preparing Environmental Impact Statements for the two other Mon/Fayette projects - from Uniontown to Brownsville and from Pa. Route 51 to Pittsburgh. The same is true for the three separate projects that would form the 30-mile Southern Beltway. The Southern Beltway projects include the "Findlay Connector" between Pa. Route 60 and U.S. Route 22. At five to six miles, it is the shortest of the Southern Beltway projects and the most advanced. Final environmental clearance is anticipated in late 1997.
         The two other Southern Beltway projects would run from U.S. Route 22 to Interstate 79 and from I-79 to the Mon/Fayette Expressway. Final environmental clearances are at least three years away for these Southern Beltway projects, and 18 to 24 months away for the two Mon/Fayette projects in the Environmental Impact Statement phase.