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Motion Expressing the Sense of the Council of Allegheny County that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's efforts to complete the construction of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway projects through innovative public-private partnerships will function to enhance the economic vitality of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
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WHEREAS, the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway are parts of a program of projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania that the State Legislature has mandated, under Act 61 of 1985 and Act 26 of 1991, to be studied, designed, and constructed by the Pennsylvania Transportation Commission (PTC); and
WHEREAS, the three incomplete sections taken together represent 50 miles of new expressway at a cost of nearly $5.2 billion; and
WHEREAS, the $3.8 billion, 24-mile Mon-Fayette section of the project would run through Allegheny County, from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills to I-376 in Pittsburgh and Monroeville, and include a bypass around the Parkway East's Squirrel Hill Tunnel; and
WHEREAS, now in final design, the Mon-Fayette Expressway traverses Jefferson Hills, West Mifflin, Dravosburg, Duquesne, North Versailles, Turtle Creek, Wilkins, Monroeville, Penn Hills, East Pittsburgh, North Braddock, Braddock, Swissvale, Rankin and the City of Pittsburgh; and
WHEREAS, the Mon-Fayette Expressway is critically important regional transportation and economic development projects; and
WHEREAS, the Mon-Fayette would provide important linkages and open up old industrial sites to jobs and commerce in the south, and its Squirrel Hill bypass would provide important traffic congestion relief to Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs; and
WHEREAS, the Southern Beltway would enable people and goods to move through the region safely and efficiently and improve access to areas which can provide markets to enhance the economic vitality of the region; and
WHEREAS, the Mon-Fayette and Southern Beltway systems are being developed to improve access to Mon River communities and highly developable tracts near Pittsburgh International Airport, improve mobility to job centers, support redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites and neighborhoods, better compartmentalize traffic and to relieve traffic congestion on overburdened and undersized roadways; and
WHEREAS, because of limited federal and state funding, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is seeking innovative public-private partnerships and hopes to identify potential private partners interested in financing, designing, constructing, operating and/or maintaining all or portions of the unfinished segments.
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY,
That the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's exploration of public-private partnerships in order to complete the remaining sections of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway projects is necessary due to the magnitude of this endeavor, and furthermore, Council supports the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's efforts to ensure the timely completion of these projects designed to spur economic growth and benefit our region.