Mon-Fayette Expressway
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(click on thumbnail for larger map)
The Mon/Fayette Expressway will stretch about 65 miles south from Pittsburgh through the
Monongahela River Valley and western Fayette County to Interstate 68 in West Virginia,
just east of Morgantown. It will improve access to redevelopment sites in the economically
depressed Mon River towns where the steel industry once flourished. It also will provide
faster and safer travel options for through traffic, particularly commercial vehicles, that now
use existing north-south arteries such as PA Route 51, PA Route 88, PA Route 837, and
PA Route 857, as well as U.S. Route 40 (the National Road).
Interstate
68 to Uniontown Update
Fourth Quarter 2001
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On
September 23, 1994, the U.S. Department of Transportation's
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued its Record of
Decision (ROD) for a 12-mile expressway between Interstate 68
near Morgantown, W.Va. and the Pa. Route 43 Chadville
Demonstration Project near Fairchance. The ROD represented
FHWA's final approval of the project's Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS). Ground was broken in November 1994 and on March
1, 2000, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) opened the
northern 6.2 miles of the project, also known as the Mason Dixon
Link. West Virginia Department of Transportation's Division of
Highways awarded its first construction contract in October 1999
and is expected to complete its 4.2 miles in Fall 2004. The
expressway begins at the interchange of I-68 and Route 857
between Cheat Lake and Coopers Rock State Forest in Monongalia
County, West Virginia. It proceed northwards, generally parallel
to Route 857, and connects
to the four-mile Chadville Demonstration Project in
Georges Township, Fayette County. Interchanges are at I-68 and
Route 857 in West Virginia as well as at Gans Road, Rubles Mill
Road and Big Six Road in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Turnpike
Commission is operating the expressway from Gans Road north to
Big Six Road as a toll road. Approximately 1.6 miles of the
Pennsylvania side of the expressway from Gans Road south to the
state line will remain closed until the West Virginia leg opens. Tolling
facilities are located on the ramps at the Rubles Mill road
interchange for traffic entering the southbound lanes or exiting
the northbound lanes. All other traffic is tolled at a six-lane
mainline plaza approximately one mile north of Rubles Mill Road.
Fully automated toll collection machines accept coins, $1 and $5
bills and PTC commercial cards. Equipment issues change and
receipts. Toll rates at the mainline facility are 75 cents for
Class 1 (two-axle) vehicles, $1.50 for Class 2 (three-axle)
vehicles), $2.25 for Class 3 (four-axle) vehicles, $3 for Class
4 (five-axle) vehicles and $3.75 for Class 5 (six-axle)
vehicles. Toll rates at the Rubles Mill Road ramps are 50 cents
for Class 1, $1 for Class 2, $1.50 for Class 3, $2 for Class 4
and $2.50 for Class 5 vehicles. Over
the first year of operation, 651,771 trips or an average of
54,314 trips per month were recorded on the PTC side of the
Mason Dixon Link. Fare revenues totaled $561,871, or an average
of $46,823 per month. The most trips (66,203) were recorded for
March 2000. The fewest trips (42,809) were recorded for January
2001.
Costs for the 7.8-mile Pennsylvania section will total about $153 million. They include $11.1 million for preliminary engineering and environmental clearance, $11.5 million for final design, $14.3 million for right-of-way acquisition, $2.8 million for utility relocations, $92 million for construction and $10.6 million for construction management. Construction and related costs for the section in West Virginia are estimated at about $100 million. |
