Free Republic

The cost to construct the Southern Beltway from Route 22 to Interstate 79 has been high — and it’s not just the $900 million price tag. Construction of the 13-mile highway disrupted lives, livelihoods and the environment along the path it carved through the countryside. The most extensive damage occurred in southern McDonald, Washington County, where reshaping the terrain initiated or exacerbated flooding problems that ended up chasing several families from their homes. We can say that the Turnpike Commission should have been more careful, and we have. But the truth is that there are always unintended consequences when excavating...

With just days to go before the Southern Beltway opens Friday, construction crews scurried throughout the 13-mile corridor to button up final details on the $900 million project. The work included painting lines and installing signs to guide motorists; stabilizing walls beneath bridges that pass over the roadway so construction crews won’t have to dodge traffic when the road opens; finishing the structure of some of those bridges; and seeding and planting along the median and hillsides or placing stones in areas where growing has failed. “We have things like line-striping to do, some signage to get done before the...

Amid a deepening stalemate over financing highways and public transit, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on March 12 proposed phasing out his state's gasoline tax, the second highest in the nation, and appointed a commission to recommend alternative ways to pay for the state's needs. Wolf ordered a panel of several dozen lawmakers, transportation industry representatives, transportation planners, government officials and others to deliver recommendations by Aug. 1 of funding alternatives to foot the extra billions of dollars deemed to be necessary. "Our economy, our communities and our future rely on a strong transportation system that supports our safety and growth,"...

Almost no matter what you build in Western Pennsylvania, you have to consider the possibility that in previous generations the site had been mined for coal. That’s especially true for the next leg of the Southern Expressway, a 13-mile, $700 million section being built along part of the Pittsburgh coal seam between Route 22 and Interstate 79 in western Allegheny and northern Washington counties. In the area around McDonald alone, where the highway will pass over Route 980 just outside the borough, at least 10 mines operated within two square miles between the mid-1860s and mid-1930s. Particularly in Western Pennsylvania,...