BROWNSVILLE, PA - The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission intends to receive bids starting early next year for six construction contracts that would complete the second phase of the 17-mile Mon/Fayette Expressway Project between Uniontown and Brownsville, CEO Joe Brimmeier announced today.

     The first of the six construction contracts is expected to be awarded in the First Quarter of 2008, the last before fall. 

     “This is a commitment made and a commitment kept to expressway advocates in Fayette and Washington counties whose strong support has been critical to the advancement of this new transportation pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Brimmeier.

     Phase 2 of the Mon/Fayette Expressway Uniontown-to-Brownsville Area Project will complete a major interchange with Routes 51 and 119 at the Uniontown end of the project and extend construction of the mainline from the east to the west side of U.S. Route 40, near the village of Davidson in Redstone Township, Fayette County, swinging it around Brownsville Borough to the south and west.

     The mainline of the expressway will cross the Monongahela River on a new four-lane bridge - 3,013 feet long and 160 feet high - between Luzerne Township, Fayette County and Centerville Borough, Washington County (at Vesta No. 6) and link to the divided highway portion of Pa. Route 88 that leads into the California Toll Road (Turnpike 43). The California segment, which opened in October 1990, is the oldest part of the Mon/Fayette system.

     Turnpike officials believe that Phase 2 will be ready for traffic by Spring 2012. The new Mon River bridge will require a construction period of three and a half to four years. 

     “Completion of the Mon/Fayette through Fayette County will enhance the marketability of the region and improve safety by moving through traffic, especially commercial vehicles, off of the National Road and onto a larger, modern thoroughfare,” said Turnpike Commissioner J. William Lincoln, a former state senator from Fayette County.  
    
     Construction of Phase 1 began in February 2006. Phase 1, also about 8.5 miles, is expected to open by Spring 2009. It will bring the mainline to an interchange near Davidson where motorists will be able use a new connector road to the U.S. Route 40 Brownsville “stub” and access the California Toll Road via downtown Brownsville and the Lane Bane Bridge.

     One of the six construction contracts to be awarded as part of Phase 2 will include tie-ins to U.S. Route 119 at the Uniontown end of the project. Tie-ins to Pa. Route 51 and a new connector road (Northgate Drive) between Route 51 and Route 40 are being built as part of Phase 1.

     Two other interchanges are included in Phase 2. One will link Bull Run Road and Telegraph Road and provide improved access to the 2,000-bed State Correctional Institution in Luzerne Township (SCI-Fayette) that opened in October 2003. The other will provide tie-ins to Route 88 south of the California Toll Road.

     Phase 2 also will include nine bridges carrying the mainline of the expressway and seven other structures. 

     Total Phase 2 costs are estimated at $445 million. Costs for Phase 1 are expected to total about $390 million.

     Completion of the Mon/Fayette Expressway Uniontown-to-Brownsville Area Project will create about 60 miles of seamless, north-south expressway, including pieces built by PennDOT, between the West Virginia line and Jefferson Hills Borough in southeastern Allegheny County.