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The Mon-Fayette Expressway:  PA-51 to I-70 Section

OPEN TO TRAFFIC

On May 19, 1994, the Federal Highway Administration issued its Record of Decision for a 17-mile expressway between Interstate 70 in Fallowfield Township, Washington County and Pa. Route 51 at the community of Large in Jefferson Hills Borough, Allegheny County. A mitigation report has been finalized, completing Step 10 of the 10-Step Transportation Project Development Process. Mitigation measures will include construction of a park-and-ride facility in Jefferson Hills and a widening of 2.3 miles of Route 51 (for a center turn lane that will be 14 feet wide) north from the expressway's northern terminus to Coal Valley Road.

Funding has been committed to complete the project. Total costs are estimated at $577 million. They include $13 million for preliminary engineering and environmental clearance, $52 million for final design, $45 million for right-of-way acquisition, $45 million for utility relocations, $395 million for construction and $27 million for construction management.

In addition to Fallowfield Township (at its south end), the tolled expressway will pass through Carroll, Union, and Nottingham Townships in Washington County - west of the Monongahela River communities of Charleroi, Donora, Monongahela, and New Eagle - and end in Jefferson Hills Borough. From south to north, interchanges will provide access to I-70, Coyle-Curtain Road in Fallowfield Township, Pa. Route 136 in Carroll Township near Ringgold High School, Finleyville-Elrama Road in Union Township near Gastonville and Pa. Route 51 in Jefferson. The selected route reflects alignment changes in Jefferson Hills Borough made as a result of public input during review of the (DEIS).

Current plans call for permanent ramp collection facilities to be built at three interchanges - Coyle-Curtain Road in Fallowfield Township, Pa. Route 136 in Carroll Township, and Finleyville-Elrama Road in Union Township. At the ramp facilities, southbound motorists will pay when they get on and northbound motorists will pay when they get off. A mainline toll plaza is to be built in the Peters Creek Valley in Jefferson Hills Borough, south of Route 51 and north of Gill Hall Road. A highway maintenance center is to be built approximately 1.5 miles south of the mainline toll facility.