Dirt Flies...

MON-FAYETTE CONSTRUCTION HITS HIGH GEAR...
Southern Beltway Project also Gains Momentum
By Joe Agnello

The Turnpike Commission's Mon/Fayette Expressway projects in southwestern Pennsylvania are taking center stage as one of the largest public works initiatives ever in the Pittsburgh region.

After years of preliminary engineering, impact studies, right-of-way acquisition and final design, construction of the 65-mile long superhighway, which will run north to Pittsburgh from Interstate 68 near Morgantown, WV, is now in high gear.

Between June 1, 1997 and year's end, the Turnpike Commission awarded contracts or opened bids for more than $170 million worth of Mon/Fayette Expressway construction. Factoring the $15 million in construction contracts awarded prior to 1997, the Turnpike's financial commitment relative to the expressway now approaches $200 million.

The new year will be at least as busy. In 1998, the Turnpike expects to open bids for an estimated $290 million worth of Mon/Fayette Expressway construction.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Executive Director John T. Durbin said the highway revenue bill passed in April of 1997 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and signed by Gov. Tom Ridge provided the funding necessary for the Turnpike to continue to advance the Mon-Fayette Expressway and related Southern Beltway projects through the turn of the century.

The legislation boosted Pennsylvania's gasoline tax and vehicle registration fees and will provide the Turnpike with an additional $28 million annually, from the Motor License Fund, to help finance new toll roads assigned to the Turnpike in Act 61 of 1985.

The Turnpike is now receiving about $68 million a year from the state for projects such as the Mon/Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway, counting its share of the Pennsylvania Oil Company Franchise Tax (approximately $40 million annually as specified in Act 26 of 1991).

"Tax revenues won't be needed to maintain these new roads but the Turnpike Commission cannot afford to build them on its own," said Durbin. "State lawmakers have recognized this, as have their counterparts in Washington, DC. So far, we have received some $24 million in federal funds, and we have submitted a formal request for $500 million in additional funding."

Durbin added, "This latest infusion of state tax dollars will allow us to complete the two Mon/Fayette projects now under construction and move the two remaining Mon/Fayette projects, as well as the three Southern Beltway projects, through final environmental approval."

The proposed 30-mile Southern Beltway would form an arc between Pittsburgh International Airport at Pa. Route 60 in western Allegheny County and the Mon/Fayette Expressway near Finleyville, Washington County.

A preferred alignment has been identified for the Southern Beltway project between Pa. Route 60 and U.S. Route 22 and a Record of Decision (permission to build) from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration is expected in early 1998.

Records of Decision are anticipated in December of 1999 for the Southern Beltway project between U.S. Route 22 and Interstate 79 and in June of 2000 for the Southern Beltway project between I-79 and the Mon/Fayette Expressway.

The two Mon/Fayette projects under construction are 17 miles north from Interstate 70 in Washington County to Pa. Route 51 in Allegheny County and the 7.8-mile Pennsylvania stretch of the 12-mile "Mason Dixon Link" that will run north from I-68 in Monongalia County, West Virginia to Pa. Route 43 in Fayette County. The West Virginia Department of Transportation is to construct the four miles of the Mason Dixon Link south of the Pennsylvania border.

The Mason Dixon Link is targeted for completion in late 1999 or early 2000. The 17 miles north from I-70 to Pa. Route 51 in Jefferson Borough is targeted for completion in late 2001.

Preferred alignments have not yet been identified for the Mon-Fayette project between Uniontown and the Brownsville Area and the Mon-Fayette project between Pa. Route 51 and Pittsburgh. Records of Decision are expected in late 1998 or early 1999.

The Route 51-to-Pittsburgh Project is to include a fork to Interstate 376 near Monroeville which in turn would create a bypass around the Squirrel Hill Tunnel on I-376, one of the region's worst traffic bottlenecks.

Mashuda Corporation, headquartered in Cranberry Township, Butler County, won five of the first 10 Mon/Fayette construction contracts awarded by the Turnpike Commission. Those five contracts total more than $70.6 million.

To date, other general contractors for Mon-Fayette Expressway construction are Dick Corporation of Jefferson Borough, Allegheny County ($28,890,161); Elmo Greer & Sons of London, KY ($26,617,961); Charles J. Merlo, Inc. of Mineral Point, Cambria County ($6,237,226); Swenglish & Sons, Inc. of Smithfield, Fayette County ($664,875 to construct replacement wetlands for the Mason Dixon Link); and Alex E. Paris Contracting of Atlasburg, Washington County ($378,236 to construct replacement wetlands for the I-70-to-Route 51 Project).

Page: 6