C  O  M  M  I  S  S  I  O  N       N  E  W  S       R  E  L  E  A  S  E

Contact:  

Joe Agnello, (724) 755-5262,  (724) 755-5142 fax
e-mail: jagnello@paturnpike.com 

November 14, 2001

TURNPIKE WILL PRESENT TO PORT AUTHORITY 
PARK-AND-RIDE BUILT AS PART OF MON/FAYETTE EXPRESSWAY
Ceremony is 10:30 AM Friday, November 16 in Jefferson Hills

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will turn over to Port Authority of Allegheny County a 450-space park-and-ride lot in Jefferson Hills Borough constructed as part of the Mon/Fayette Expressway’s interchange with Pa. Route 51.  

Turnpike Executive Director John T. Durbin will make the presentation to Bruce Ahern, Port Authority’s Assistant General Manager of Business Development and Planning, during a public ceremony Friday morning at the facility. Jefferson Hills Mayor Mary Larcinese will serve as master of ceremonies.

The lot is located just east of Route 51 in Large, along the newly reconstructed Peters Creek Road. The intersection is signalized and there is a left-turn lane onto Peters Creek Road from Route 51 South.

The new park-and-ride will open on Monday morning, Nov. 19. Port Authority will provide frequent rush-hour service between the new lot and downtown Pittsburgh via bus routes 46 G Elizabeth, CL Clairton Flyer, E Elizabeth Flyer and the JL Jefferson Flyer. The 46G also will provide midday service between the park-and-ride and downtown Pittsburgh.

All routes use Route 51 and the South Busway to and from downtown Pittsburgh. Cash fare is $2 each way. A weekly pass is $17 and a monthly pass costs $61.25.

The park-and-ride, built at a cost of $1,273,723, includes four bus shelters with benches and a bus driver relief station. Bus access will be via a new quarter-mile concrete driveway that leads to the relief station and a bus turn-around and bus parking area.

Friday’s presentation will fulfill the Turnpike’s commitment, made as part of the environmental clearance process, to provide an intermodal transportation facility near the Mon/Fayette Expressway’s interchange with Route 51. This will become Port Authority’s 50^th park-and-ride (offering more than 8,700 parking spaces altogether) and will be its largest park-and-ride served exclusively by bus.   

Construction of the park-and-ride and improvements to Peters Creek Road were part of a $21.8 million Mon/Fayette construction contract awarded to Swank Associated Companies, Inc. of New Kensington on February 1, 2000.       

The park-and-ride is at the northern terminus of the 17-mile Mon/Fayette Expressway Project between Interstate 70 and Turnpike 43  in eastern Washington County and Route 51 in southeastern Allegheny County.

The southern 3.6 miles of the link, from I-70 and the California Toll Road north to Coyle Curtin Road and Pa. Route 88 just south of Mon City, opened last May 11. The balance of the project, which also has interchanges with Pa. Route 136 near Ringgold High School and Finleyville-Elrama Road, will open in Spring 2002.

The Mon/Fayette system is a series of stand-alone but  interconnected projects that would form a 70-mile expressway route south from Interstate 376 in Pittsburgh and Monroeville through the Monongahela River Valley, Brownsville and Uniontown to Interstate 68 near Morgantown, W.Va.

Approximately half of the 70-mile system will be operational when the Interstate 70-to-Route 51 Mon/Fayette Project opens in the Spring. 

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 P.O. Box 67676, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7676         Phone: (717) 939-9551         Fax: (717) 986-9649