WEST MIFFLIN - An environmental group's alternative to building a Mon/Fayette Expressway link in Allegheny County would cost $2 billion extra and require acquisition of 1,200 more homes and businesses.
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission hosted an open house to unveil a preliminary evaluation of PennFuture's proposal. The plan is an alternative to construction of the Route 51 to Pittsburgh and Monroeville expressway link.
The commission concluded that the PennFuture plan would cost $4.162 billion, compared to $1.886 billion for the existing expressway plan.
The PennFuture plan would require acquisition of 1,791 residential and commercial properties - compared to 537 for the commission's plan expressway.
The PennFuture alternative calls for rebuilding and widening of 52 miles of existing roadways to create urban boulevards, including:
In addition, the plan proposes 10 miles of new boulevards, to be built on new rights-of-way. The boulevards are proposed as four-lane, controlled-access roadways, some of which would feature transit facilities, trails and parallel access roads.
The PennFuture plan proposes construction of a new transit line from downtown Pittsburgh, through Oakland and Hazelwood to Homestead, and then to Braddock.
It also proposes the extension of two other transit routes: the East Busway from Rankin, through Braddock and Turtle Creek, to Monroeville; and the South Hills light rail system to Century III Mall and on to the Turnpike 43 interchange.
Rebuilding the existing highway network and the construction of new boulevards and transit lines would affect many properties that front the proposed corridors.
The wider roadways would have the most serious impact, said Frank Kempf Jr., turnpike commission assistant chief engineer. Placing the urban boulevards in the middle of the existing highways would help widen Route 51 from 60 feet to 150 feet, he said. That would require the state to take 2 1/2 times as many properties as the expressway, he said.
The PennFuture plan would involve 30 communities. The state would only be required to acquire property in 13 communities if the expressway is built according to the existing plan, he said.
Analysis of the PennFuture plan has already affected the region, according to Dave Zazworsky, turnpike commission special assistant.
Zazworsky said the PennFuture review has delayed planning of the Route 51 to Pittsburgh section by six months.
Zazworsky said the National Environmental Policy Act requires the commission to evaluate reasonable proposals. The Federal Highway Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the turnpike commission agreed that the PennFuture plan required additional study.
He said the report, released Wednesday, contained only preliminary findings. The commission and Federal Highway Administration will further study the plan and include it findings in the environmental impact study, which will be released next year. That document will include public comments on the PennFuture plan, which were collected at the session Wednesday.
The final environmental impact statement will be used to request federal approval for the northernmost expressway section. The state likely will make the request in spring 2005, Zazworsky said.
Joan Miles, PennFuture outreach coordinator, was not pleased with the commission evaluation.
PennFuture leaders asked for the public session, although was not required by the Federal Highway Administration.
After the Turnpike Commission scheduled the meeting, PennFuture asked that the session be canceled.
PennFuture officials claimed they knew that the preliminary findings would be biased against their proposal.
Miles said the commission report misrepresented the impact of the PennFuture plan.
"They're making certain assumptions," Miles said. "They're assuming the widths of the urban boulevards. In pinch points, we'd narrow the urban boulevards. They've also assumed that we'd take every driveway. We're not here to eliminate every business in Allegheny County."
The commission, by law, builds and maintains only toll roads. PennDOT is responsible for all other state highways.
It appears PennDOT would be responsible for the project should the PennFuture plan find approval.
Miles said she holds hope that the state Legislature will amend state statutes and charge the commission with development of the PennFuture plan.
But PennFuture spokeswoman Jeanne Clark said the group would try to have its plan added to PennDOT's 12-year-plan later this year.
Miles could not name any municipality that endorsed the PennFuture plan. The city of Pittsburgh passed a resolution seeking "a full and fair evaluation of the PennFuture plan."
Miles listed Ardmore Boulevard as an example of an urban boulevard in Allegheny County.
Miles disputed the cost of the PennFuture plan too. She said the expressway pricetag would double because bonds would be issued to cover construction costs. She did not explain how the PennFuture plan would be financed, but stated it would require "much less bond funding."
Tony Mento, Federal Highway Administration transportation engineer, praised the commission for "a fair and unbiased evaluation of the PennFuture proposal."
"The Turnpike Commission has gone that extra mile," Mento said. "They've looked not only at the citizens' plan, but modified it to meet design and then evaluated it."
Mento said the economic impact of the PennFuture plan on the tax base and economy of the affected communities would be considered.
"We haven't got to the point of measuring the economic impact yet," he said.
