Debate on the merits of building the Mon-Fayette Expressway through Allegheny County and into Pittsburgh has intensified this week as groups for and against the toll highway jockey for position.
A string of public meetings focusing on the $4 billion highway linking Morgantown, W.Va., with Pittsburgh began Tuesday, offering a preview of the concerns and support bound to be voiced by community groups and politicians to the Turnpike Commission in the coming months.
"We are absolutely committed to making sure their input not only is considered but is implemented as part of the design," Frank Kempf, an assistant chief engineer with the Turnpike Commission, said during an afternoon hearing before City Council.
At a hearing last night in Oakland, however, City Assistant Planning Director Pat Hassett reminded roughly 30 attendees that the Turnpike Commission had authority to proceed with the project, with or without the support of the mayor's office or the public. Still, he told the crowd, their opinions could help shape how local neighborhoods and the riverfront would be affected by the project.
A turnpike document, called a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, should be released this month. It will detail the agency's preferred route through the county, alternatives to that plan, and environmental and economic factors. Its release will trigger a 75-day public comment period and will feature a series of public hearings, likely to start in June.
The Turnpike Commission, by law, must consider the public's input.
Mayor Tom Murphy called for the hearings to gather more community input on the planned 24-mile route through the county to Monroeville and Pittsburgh - a plan that still concerns Murphy.
"As you can see, there remain significant outstanding concerns regarding the future of the toll road and its impact on the city's neighborhoods and riverfronts," Murphy wrote April 23 to Allegheny County political leaders. "This is in addition to a number of issues raised by various neighborhood and advocacy groups."
Only 5.8 miles of the 100-mile road fall within city limits, yet the portion is critical because it ties the regional hub into the network of toll roads.
The turnpike's preference is to connect the toll road with the Parkway East in Oakland, creating a bypass around the Squirrel Hill Tunnels.
