After years of planning and construction, driving the Mon-Fayette Expressway from Monongahela to Interstate 70 in Fallowfield Township soon will be a reality. Traffic in each direction on I-70 in Fallowfield has been reduced to one lane, as the concrete barriers separating the interstate from the planned toll road are being removed and replaced with orange barrels. In slightly more than a month, the orange barrels will be removed, and four miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway between I-70 and Coyle Curtin Road will be open to motorists. Those four miles, to open the week of May 6, will be the first part of a 17-mile stretch of the expressway between I-70 and state Route 51 in Jefferson Hills. By this time next year, that entire stretch should be ready for use, opening northwestern Washington County and the mid-Mon Valley to further residential and commercial development. 'It really is the foundation of changing this economy,' said Joe Kirk, director of the Mon Valley Progress Council in Monessen. The Mon-Fayette Expressway is a proposed 78-mile toll road from I-68 in Morgantown, W.Va., through Fayette and Washington counties to Route 51 in Jefferson Hills and ultimately splitting and connecting with the Parkway East on either side of the Squirrel Hill Tunnels.

The expressway and its sister project, the proposed Southern Beltway from Pittsburgh International Airport through northern Washington County to the expressway, forms the second largest construction project in America, behind only the 'Big Dig,' a project building a tunnel through downtown Boston. Currently, there are about 16 miles of the expressway open to travel. Of the 16 miles, 10 are from previous construction projects undertaken by PennDOT, said Joe Agnello, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. PennDOT built six miles near Elco referred to as the California Toll Road about 24 years ago, and another four miles south of Uniontown as the Chadville Demonstration Project. The turnpike commission took over the California Toll Road in 1990. The turnpike commission built about 6 &*#189; miles of highway coming north from the Pennsylvania-West Virginia line in Fayette County. That segment, part of an eight-mile Mason-Dixon link of the expressway, opened in 2000. The segment of the expressway from Uniontown to Brownsville is currently in final design, the last stage before construction begins. Agnello said construction is slow on the southern part of the expressway, but fast and furious on the segment scheduled to open next year. 'There's pockets of intense construction going on,' he said. Agnello estimated 212,000 trips would be taken on the first four-mile stretch in its first year, which would be about 580 trips a day. It will cost 50 cents for a two-axle vehicle, and 50 cents for each additional axle. He estimated the commission would make $89,000 during the first year, and that about 85 percent of the traffic the first year will be vehicles with two axles. The expressway will open near the Mon Valley YMCA along Coyle Curtin Road in Carroll Township. Its director, Ken Wiltz, said the strand of the expressway will make using the YMCA a more viable option for people on both sides of the Monongahela River. 'It will provide more access to the YMCA for area residents, especially those living in the Belle Vernon, Rostraver Township and Carroll Township areas,' he said. Agnello said there are another two or three miles north of the Charleroi/Donora interchange that are ready to open. However, there would be no place to go, because the next interchange - at State Route 136 in Nottingham Township - is not ready to open. Similarly, only 6 &*#189; miles of the eight-mile Mason-Dixon link are open, because the last 1 &*#189; miles would be a road to nowhere, since there are no exits beyond state Route 857. Kirk, a Mt. Lebanon resident who commutes to his job in Monessen, looks forward to the time when he will be able to drive the new expressway, and looks forward to the development that could accompany it. He said that the road will improve access to Monongahela Valley Hospital and California University of Pennsylvania, and will thus open new markets for them. He believes that the expressway, when completed, will foster some commercial and industrial growth, but he also believes it could lead, in part, to people living in the mid-Mon Valley and commuting to Pittsburgh. 'In part (the mid-Mon Valley) will be a bedroom community,' he said. Theresa Cypher, executive director of the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce, said that this stretch of the expressway probably won't take extra cars to Monongahela, but the entire project could be a boon to the area. 'I can't see that many cars coming to Monongahela because of this section of the expressway,' she said. 'I think most of the shoppers are local people.' Vince Guerrieri can be reached at vguerrieri@tribweb.com or (412) 306-4533. Chris Buckley, cbuckley@tribweb.com is a staff writer for the Valley Independent in Monessen.

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