Expressway loved, hated

McKEESPORT - A panel of experts Wednesday night said creative thinking, tolling interstates and public-private partnerships will be needed to complete the Mon/Fayette Expressway, a kind of Parkway South that's been under development for years.

John Fetterman had different ideas.

The mayor of Braddock criticized the logic of providing better access to the Mon Valley at the expense of some of its most economically depressed neighborhoods.

"It would absolutely devastate our town," Fetterman said. "My community is going to bear the brunt of a highway running through it."

He was not alone.

Andrea Boykowycz, the western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator of PennFUTURE, questioned the multibillion-dollar price tag of finishing the highway.

"None of (the panelists) is willing to speak honestly about the cost to the region," said Boykowycz in an interview after her remarks. "It's really just a series of false promises."

Others painted a much different picture of the long-anticipated highway, whose final Y-shaped route would connect Pittsburgh, Monroeville and the Mon Valley.

Some hailed the project for its ability to revitalize and help redevelop Mon Valley communities suffering from the loss of manufacturing jobs and continuing population decline.

The benefit would be similar to what Monroeville saw through the construction of Route 376 to Pittsburgh, proponents said.

"I believe it's going to be a roadway to bring people in," former Duquesne Mayor George Matta said. "This roadway is much more than a roadway. It's our economic future (and) it's time we get on with progress."

"The Monroeville Chamber (of Commerce) sees this project ... as a project that benefits all of southwestern Pennsylvania," said panelist Chad Amond, the chamber's president. "To stop now would be nothing short of insane."

Panelists at the McKeesport Area High School forum - sponsored by Trib Total Media, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation and Pennsylvania Cable Network - were largely optimistic about the Mon/Fayette Expressway.

"I'm going to say it for the, probably, 200th time: the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is committed to finishing the Mon/Fayette Expressway and the southern beltway," said panelist Joseph Brimmeier, the turnpike commission's CEO. "We do look at it as one big project."

"This highway's absolutely essential," said panelist Andrew Quinn, director of community relations for Kennywood Park. "It's time now that the rest of the region gives the Valley some help."