Funding issues hinder expressway
While funding issues continue to dog completion of the Mon/Fayette Expressway project in Pennsylvania, the link is moving forward in West Virginia, and Fayette County Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites has said he would do everything he can to make sure it is completed. Recently, the head of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said completion of the $5.4 billion project is on hold indefinitely until money is made available to finish the link between Route 51 and Pittsburgh, but construction of a bridge in West Virginia is pending.
Last month, Mosites Construction Co. of Pittsburgh was the apparent low bidder at $19.87 million for a bridge that will span Morgan’s Run Road. West Virginia Division of Highways construction engineer Don Williams previously said work could begin next year and the bridge should be completed by June 2009.
With construction of that bridge, all that remains is construction of about a mile of highway, and motorists will be able to take a straight 20-minute shot from Fayette County to West Virginia, Vicites said.
“I think growth and development will be expedited once the corridor opens. The good news is it is moving ahead and it’s been funded,” Vicites said.
Vicites, who has worked diligently to ensure the West Virginia link is completed by writing letters and attending meetings, traveled with fellow Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III in April 2005 to meet with West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin to stress the importance of finishing the Mountain State’s section. Manchin later named the completion of the link one of the top three highway priorities in the state and vowed to have the section finished by 2011.
“People don’t realize how close we are,” Vicites said of the West Virginia link. “This has been a priority of mine since I became county commissioner. There’s a lot of highway already built.”
Most recently, Mountaineer Contractors Inc. of Kingwood, W.Va., has been reconfiguring the intersection of Monongalia County Route 857 and the Interstate 68 interchange at Cheat Lake. The contractor has demolished a store and is removing underground fuel tanks.
The Ruble’s Run Bridge already has been constructed. Vicites said once the Morgan’s Run Bridge is built, there would be more than three miles of highway constructed. He said highway leads up to both sides of the bridge. All that will remain is the interchange at Interstate 68 and the road leading to the interchange.
Vicites credited the push for completion of the section to Manchin.
“He (Manchin) understands the vision of what can lead to becoming a region,” he said. “It will be much quicker to travel and it opens up so much regional development possibilities. It takes down the barrier between the two states.”
While funding for the West Virginia section has been secured, the same is not true for the local section. Locally, the Uniontown-to-Brownsville link of the toll road is under construction, but funding only has been secured for a portion of it.
To date, about $250 million of the $490 million needed for the project has been secured, which will enable crews to construct approximately half the length of the 15-mile section. Funding has not been secured for a new bridge over the Monongahela River. Earlier this month, Turnpike Commission Executive Director Joseph Brimmeier said the agency would not begin to buy through eminent domain the 1,575 parcels of private property along the toll road’s path from Route 51 to Pittsburgh, through the Mon Valley to the Parkway East, until the project is fully funded.
The Turnpike Commission needs $2.4 billion to complete just the Allegheny County portion of the 100-mile highway planned for between Pittsburgh and Interstate 68 near Morgantown, W.Va. The entire project, including the Southern Beltway, is $3.5 billion short. As a potential way to fund the shortfall, talks have been under way regarding the possibility of privatizing the toll road system over in the form of long-term leases.