Commissioner gets look at interchange plans
Just days after learning that a full-diamond interchange will be built at Fan Hollow Road as a part of the Mon/Fayette Expressway’s Uniontown-to-Brownsville link, Fayette County Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites got a first-hand look at the plans. Vicites traveled to New Stanton on Friday to meet with officials from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and HDR Engineering Inc. of Pittsburgh, the firm that drew up the plans. Initially, the turnpike commission had anticipated constructing only a half-diamond interchange, which would have provided access to vehicles traveling only in one direction on the toll road.
However, Vicites stressed to the commission the importance of having a full diamond to support economic development. Fan Hollow Road would connect the expressway to Route 40 near the county’s business park and other developments.
With the full diamond at the North Union Township interchange, vehicles will have “total access to exiting onto Fan Hollow Road from all directions,” Vicites said. “Access is one of the most important facets for development, as evidenced by a lack of development at Walnut Hill.”
He said the half-diamond interchange at the Walnut Hill exit of Route 119 near the Uniontown Shopping Center impeded growth in the area when the interchange was built 30 years ago.
Constructing a full diamond at Walnut Hill is in the planning stages and is expected to cost $6 million. Vicites said if the full interchange would have been built 30 years ago, it would have cost only $200,000.
Vicites said the design alternative that the turnpike commission plans to present to the environmental agencies for approval is cost effective, meets the environmental requirements, passes the safety standards and minimally affects the farmlands in the area.
Noting that having a full interchange will “serve the interests of the county for many years to come,” Vicites said, “We have access from Brownsville, Connellsville and the southern end of the county.”
Frank Kempf, assistant chief engineer for the turnpike commission, earlier said that Vicites was adamant about the need for the full interchange, and his insistence prompted the commission to consider it seriously.
Noting that 12 options were considered, Kempf said the selected alternative meets the minimum safety regulations and limits the effects on farmlands, while costing as little as possible.
Vicites said he was determined to make the change happen. “We have to build it with a vision for the future,” he said of the Mon/Fayette Expressway.
Construction on the 15-mile section from Uniontown to Brownsville is scheduled to begin in 2005, provided the funding is secured, and could take three to four years to complete.
Vicites said the turnpike commission and engineering representatives were very cooperative and professional. Also, he said state Sen. Richard Kasunic (D-Dunbar) members of the state Department of Transportation and the North Union Township supervisors were supportive as well.
“I think it’s a win-win situation. I’m glad they reconsidered the design. It will be a big help to the county’s future,” Vicites said.