Mon/Fayette Expressway bridge finished
Roberto M. Esquivel/HeraldStandard.com
Walsh Construction workers pour the last yards of concrete for the Mon/Fayette Expressway bridge over the Monongahela River between Brownsville and Low Hill, Washington County, inside one of the bridge’s two access tunnels Wednesday night.
Roberto M. Esquivel/HeraldStandard.comrd.com
Walsh Construction workers pour the last load of cement for the deck of the Mon-Fayette Expressway bridge over the Monongahela River on Wednesday evening. Completion of the bridge wraps up the Uniontown-to-Brownsville section of the expressway.
CENTERVILLE — The last major piece of construction of the Uniontown-to-Brownsville section of the Mon/Fayette Expressway has been completed and the highway is expected to open in late July.
Contractors poured the last of the concrete needed to complete the $96 million, 3,000-foot-long and 200-feet-high expressway bridge between Brownsville and Centerville on Wednesday night, said Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission spokesman Tom Fox.
The highway will open to traffic after the remaining bridge work, which includes applying protective coatings to the concrete and installing the median and guardrails, is complete, Fox said.
“The final pour happened last night around 8 o’clock. It is certainly symbolic in terms of the turnpike,” Fox said. “Completion of Uniontown to Brownsville brings 20 years of active construction to a pause until we find the money to finish the remaining three projects. We are planning an opening ceremony near the end of July.”
Construction of the Uniontown-to-Brownsville section was completed in two phases costing a total of $882 million.
The first phase, an eight-mile stretch from Route 51 in North Union Township to the Brownsville connector, began in spring 2006 and opened to traffic in October 2008.
The $407 million second phase, which started in October 2008, included construction of an interchange with Route 51 and Route 119 in North Union Township, construction of eight miles of mainline including the bridge cross the Monongahela River and a link to Route 88 in Washington County. The second phase also included two exit ramp toll plazas, a new maintenance facility adjacent to the Searights interchange and an interchange that connects the southern end of the first phase with Route 51 and Route 119.
The total project cost includes construction, preliminary engineering, environmental impact studies, final design, utility relocation, right-of-way acquisition, design management and construction management. About $32 million in federal highway money has been committed to the project.
When the second phase opens, it will provide 17 miles of limited access, tolled highway between Uniontown and Route 88 in Low Hill, Washington County.
It also represent completion of three of the four planned sections of the expressway.
The 7.8-mile “Mason-Dixon Link” from Route 119 near Uniontown to Interstate 68 in West Virginia opened March 2000.
A 17-mile stretch from Interstate 70 in Washington County to Route 51 in Jefferson Hills, Allegheny County, opened in April 2002.
That section includes the six-mile California toll road, which opened in October 1990.
West Virginia’s 4.2-mile section linking the expressway to I-68 opened last year.
A six-mile section of the Southern Beltway, the Findlay Connector between the Route 60 Expressway near Pittsburgh International Airport to Route 22 in Robinson Township, Washington County, opened in October 2006.
Three parts of the expressway and beltway project have not been funded. They include an expressway section from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills to I-376 in southern Allegheny County and two sections of the Southern Beltway from Route 22 in Robinson Township to a proposed interchange with I-79 near the Allegheny-Washington county line and from I-79 to a proposed expressway interchange south of Finleyville in Washington County.
“We’re continuing to look for funding to finish the Mon/Fayette Expressway and the two remaining pieces of the Southern Beltway,” Fox said.