Mon-Fayette Expressway exit named after former Luzerne Twp. supervisor
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
Vanessa DeSalvo Getz hugs Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Vice Chairman William Lieberman after he gave remarks about her father, Ron DeSalvo.
Vanessa DeSalvo Getz thanks the assembled crowd and gives a few remarks about her late father, Ron DeSalvo, who is featured on a photo at left. The Ron DeSalvo Memorial Interchange at Exit 26 of Route 43 was dedicated on Friday morning to commemorate the former Luzerne Township supervisor whose efforts enabled the highway that created a direct route to Pittsburgh.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
The West Brownsville American Legion fired a salute to honor Ron DeSalvo at the dedication of his memorial interchange at Exit 26 of Route 43 on Friday morning. The former Luzerne Township supervisor’s efforts enabled the highway that created a direct route to Pittsburgh.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
The Ron DeSalvo Memorial Interchange at Exit 26 of Route 43 was dedicated on Friday morning to commemorate the former Luzerne Township supervisor whose efforts enabled the highway that created a direct route to Pittsburgh.
Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard
The Ron DeSalvo Memorial Interchange at Exit 26 of Route 43 was dedicated on Friday morning to commemorate the former Luzerne Township supervisor whose efforts enabled the highway that created a direct route to Pittsburgh.
Former Luzerne Township Supervisor Ronald DeSalvo recognized that the Mon-Fayette Expressway was the road to the future for Fayette County, so he led the effort to have the expressway completed locally, including a section that runs through Luzerne Township.
And so Exit 26 from the Mon-Fayette Expressway in Luzerne Township was formally designated the Ronald F. DeSalvo Memorial Interchange in the late supervisor’s honor Friday morning in a ceremony that featured several local dignitaries and DeSalvo’s wife Nancy and daughters Vanessa DeSalvo Getz and Dominique Palombo.
DeSalvo, who died in April 2013, served as Luzerne Township supervisor for 18 years, worked in the welding industry and was a U.S. Army veteran and lifetime member of the Hiller Volunteer Fire Company.
Several speakers remembered DeSalvo’s crucial role of working to promote the expressway’s progress, including Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Township, Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, Luzerne Township Solicitor Jack Purcell and Fayette County Commissioner-elect Vince Vicites.
Vicites recalled meeting DeSalvo in 1989 when the future commissioner said he was a recycling coordinator for the county.
“He said, ‘You’ve gotta get behind this expansion, and that was six years before I was elected county commissioner,'” Vicites said. “He was a consensus builder.”
“He stood by me when we had to go to federal court to fight a misguided environmental group who wanted to stop this highway,” Purcell said. “He made a difference. Ron was the public official that had the most to do with this highway becoming a reality.”
Roughly 200 people were on hand for the dedication, including American Legion Post 940 from West Brownsville, Fayette County Commissioner-elect Dave Lohr, Brownsville Borough Council President Jack Lawver and Fayette County Register of Wills-elect Jeffrey Redman.
Stefano introduced the Senate bill designating Exit 26 as the Ronald F. DeSalvo Memorial Interchange in June and noted plans to extend the expressway into Pittsburgh.
“All roads lead to somewhere, and his legacy will continue to grow as this road expands,” Stefano said.
Snyder, a former senior aide to U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara, said Mascara (who served as representative from 1995 to 2003), DeSalvo and the Fayette County Expressway Completion Organization (FAECO) “put their heads together” to ensure the expressway’s completion.
“When you drive down this highway, think of Ron and his family,” Snyder said. “When you leave here today, let’s all try to epitomize what defined him: faith, country, community and family.”
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Vice Chairman William Lieberman served as master of ceremonies and invited attendees to a luncheon following the dedication, which concluded with members of American Legion Post 940 firing a salute as the signage noting the interchange’s new name was revealed next to the highway.
Getz was the dedication’s final speaker and emphasized her late father’s commitment to the expressway.
“He said it would put Luzerne Township on the map, which is fitting, because now his name will be on the map forever,” she said.