TURNPIKE AWARDS FIRST CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT FOR SOUTHERN BELTWAY SYSTEM

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission today awarded Dick Corporation a $64.9 million contract to build the northern end of the Findlay Connector, a nearly six-mile toll road that will extend south from the Pa. Route 60 Expressway at Pittsburgh International Airport to U.S. Route 22 in northwestern Washington County.

It is the first construction contract awarded for any part of the proposed Southern Beltway, a 30 to 35-mile network of independent but interconnected highway projects that would swing south and east from the airport to link Route 22 and Interstate 79 with the new north-south Mon/Fayette Expressway near Finleyville.

“This work will be starting before Thanksgiving,” said Turnpike Chief Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier. “We expect to award our two remaining roadway construction contracts for the Findlay Connector by early 2004 and we are optimistic that we can open this important transportation link by Summer 2006.”

Direct access in and out of Pittsburgh International Airport and a full choice of movements onto and off of Route 60 will be provided at the northern terminus of the project.

The contract awarded today also includes construction of two “missing” ramps at Route 60’s interchange with Clinton Road, construction of most of the southbound off and northbound on ramps at the Findlay Connector’s interchange with U.S. Route 30, and construction of fare collection facilities on those ramps.

Dick Corporation, headquartered in Jefferson Hills, submitted the lowest of five bids received for Construction Section 54A. It will be grading and paving 1.4 miles of four-lane, limited-access expressway, building seven new bridges as part of the Route 60/airport interchange and widening one bridge at the existing Route 60 airport interchange.

Completion of the Findlay Connector’s interchange with Route 30 will be among the tasks included in the second roadway construction contract. In addition to the interchange with Route 22 at its southern terminus, access on to and off of the Findlay Connector will be provided at the junction of Bald Knob Road, Ridge Road and Burgettstown Road.

The interchange with Route 22 will be built in Robinson Township, Washington County, between Route 22’s Champion and Bavington interchanges. All interchanges north of Route 22 will be in Findlay Township, Allegheny County.

Travel time to the airport will be reduced substantially for traffic originating near the stretch of Route 22 in Washington County and for traffic coming from the west, including the Weirton, W.Va. and Steubenville, Ohio areas.

Opening year traffic on the Findlay Connector is estimated at 12,000 vehicles per day. That figure is expected to rise to 36,000 trips per day by 2025, assuming the rest of the Southern Beltway is open.

In April 2003, commissioners hired Allentown-based McTish, Kunkel & Associates to serve as construction manager for the Findlay Connector. The primary responsibility of the construction manager is to oversee the work of the general contractors who will build the expressway.

The Findlay Connector, which carries a total estimated price tag of $221 million, is the one of three Southern Beltway projects being developed by the Turnpike Commission under directive from the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Alignments for the two other beltway projects have not been set.