Project Description

The purpose of the Mon/Fayette Expressway Uniontown-to-Brownsville Project is to provide for safer and more efficient vehicular travel by improving access, addressing future capacity requirements and drawing traffic (especially trucks) off U.S. Route 40 and onto a more modern facility. The project is designed to support the efforts of the National Road Heritage Park, to make Route 40 less of a major transportation artery and more of a local traffic corridor and tourist destination.

The project will close a gap in the existing Mon/Fayette Expressway system between the U.S. Route 119 Uniontown Bypass (the George C. Marshall Parkway) and the Route 88 "feeder" into the California Toll Road. Interchanges between those end points will serve a new Northgate Highway and a relocated Old Pittsburgh Road in North Union Township, Searights Crossroads in Menallen Township, the New Redstone Way in Redstone Township and Telegraph Road in Luzerne Township.

New connections to Route 40 from the new expressway will be built in the junction of Fan Hollow Road and Duck Hollow Road in South Union Township, at Searights/Herbert Road in Menallen Township and at the new Redstone Way connection into Brownsville.

The Uniontown to Brownsville project consists of approximately 17 miles of new limited access highway between US Route 119 and PA 51 in Uniontown, to PA Route 88 west of Brownsville with an estimated total construction cost of $605 million. The total project cost is estimated at $880 million, which includes construction, preliminary engineering, environmental impact studies, final design, utility relocations, right-of-way acquisition, design management and construction management. To date, approximately $32 million in federal highway money has been committed to the project.

The Uniontown to Brownsville project includes a new major crossing of the Monongahela River south of Brownsville. The cooperating partners in the design effort for this complex project include the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Gannett Fleming, Inc. (the PTC’s Design Manager for this project), the team of Benatec Associates/Skelly & Loy, Inc./CHRS, Inc. (the PTC’s environmental consultants for this project), Michael Baker Jr., Inc. (the PTC’s general statewide consultant), and two (2) Construction Managers, TCMS/Maguire Partnership and SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Initially the project was divided into four (4) pre-final design roadway sections and one (1) pre-final design Monongahela River Bridge section.

The pre-final design phase included the preparation of a total take right-of-way plan to facilitate the early acquisition of properties required to construct the proposed expressway. The pre-final design phase included the study of various bridge alternatives to carry the expressway over the Monongahela River and the identification of required utility relocations to accommodate the expressway construction.

For final design and construction, the project has been divided into eleven (11) roadway construction sections and one (1) Monongahela River Bridge construction section with the following design consultant firms performing the work:

• Section 51A1 HDR Engineering, Inc. (Route 119/51 Interchange section)
• Section 51A2 HDR Engineering, Inc. (Route 51 Connector Interchange Section – now called Northgate Highway – S.R. 4039, connecting Rtes. 51 and 40)
• Section 51A3 HDR Engineering, Inc. (Matthew Drive section) – Section 51A3 is being constructed by the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Fayette.
• Section 51B Ammann & Whitney, Inc. (Fan Hollow Rd./Jennings Run section)
• Section 51C L. Robert Kimball & Associates (Searights Interchange section)
• Section 51D EADS Group, Inc. (Hatfield Rd./Royal Rd. section)
• Section 51E1 DMJM Harris, Inc (formerly Consoer Townsend, Envirodyne /CTE). (Brownsville Connector/Redstone Way Interchange section)
• Section 51E2 DMJM Harris, Inc. (Route 40 to Route 166 section)
• Section 51F GAI Consultants, Inc. (Route 166/Dunlap Creek section)
• Section 51G Mackin Engineering Company (Bull Run Rd./Telegraph Rd. Interchange section)
• Section 51H HNTB Corporation (Monongahela River Bridge section)
• Section 51J DMJM Harris, Inc. (Route 88 Interchange section in Washington County)

A new Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Mainline Toll Facility (Section 51N) will be constructed in Redstone Township near Old Royal Road. Ramp toll facilities are proposed for four (4) of the diamond interchanges at Old Pittsburgh Road, Upper Middletown Road, the Brownsville Connector (Redstone Way) and the Bull Run Road Connector. Wilbur Smith Associates is the design consultant for this work.

The project also includes a new Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Maintenance Facility (Construction Section 51M) adjacent to the Searights Interchange. The design for this work was awarded to the Vitetta Group, Inc. in February 2008.

PENNDOT’s current maintenance facility in Menallen Township will also be relocated nearby adjacent to Pleasant View/Smock Road on existing PENNDOT property.

Due to funding limitations, the overall project was divided into two phases. Phase 1, which was completed and opened to traffic in October 2008, consists of Sections 51A2, 51B, 51C, 51D, 51E1, and 51N, and extends from the PA Route 51 Connector (now known as Northgate Highway-S.R.4039), in North Union Township 9 miles to an extension of the existing four-lane portion of PA Rte. 40 (Brownsville Connector/Redstone Way) near Grindstone Road at the Redstone Township/Brownsville Township line. Phase 2, which was under construction in Spring 2008, consists of Sections 51A1, 51E2, 51F, 51G, 51H, 51J, and 51M, will extend the Expressway 8 miles northward from Redstone Twp. to a point near PA Rte. 88 and the Rte. 40/Turnpike 43 Cloverleaf Interchange at the Centerville Boro/West Brownsville Boro line. Phase 2 will also complete the southern end of the expressway by constructing the fully directional interchange with PA Route 119 (Section 51A1).

Two Construction Management teams have been selected and have initiated work in support of design and construction: TCMS/Maguire is the Turnpike Commission’s Construction Manager for Sections 51A2, 51B, 51C, 51D, 51E1, and 51N in Phase 1 and Sections 51E2 and 51A1 in Phase 2. SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc. is the Construction Manager for Phase 2, Sections 51F, 51G, 51H and 51J. The Construction Management firms are performing constructability reviews, biddability reviews, plan reviews, special details, special provisions and scheduling, concurrently with the final construction plan development, and as construction has begun are performing construction management services.

Two right-of-way acquisition firms have been acquiring the right-of-way and easements required for construction. Orion Land Services has completed all right-of-way acquisition for the eastern portion of the project. Keystone Acquisition Service Corporation is currently acquiring the right-of-way for the Phase 2/western portion of the project. All of the right-of-way for the project was acquired by early 2008.

A Detailed Overview Map (detailed zoomable PDF file: 1.69MB) indicates the approximate limits of the final design and construction roadway sections, the final design Monongahela River Bridge section, the toll facilities and the individual design consultants performing the work in each section, and the Construction Managers that will oversee each construction contract.

A Phase 1/Phase 2 Overview Map (detailed zoomable PDF file: 2.4MB) identifies the Phase 1 and Phase 2 portions of the project as described in the Project Status section of this Web site.

Other Project Features

The project includes improvements to existing state and local roads, or the construction of new roads. New roads include: Northgate Highway (S.R. 4039) in North Union Township, Redstone Way in Redstone Township, and the Bull Run Road Connector and Telegraph Road Extension in Luzerne Township. The total length of these new roadways is approximately 5 miles. Reconstruction to 45 other local and state roads will improve approximately 13 miles of roadways.

The final design of this project has been developed to reduce impacts to wetlands, streams, and farmlands. A mitigation site for the impacts to wetlands is located in North Union Township, along Jennings Run. This wetland mitigation site has been constructed as part of the Phase 1 Section 51B.

Approximately 2000 feet of stream mitigation has been constructed along with the wetland mitigation area in Section 51B. To mitigate for the remaining stream impacts the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has entered into agreement with the Fayette County Conservation District to provide funding for stream mitigation projects at other sites.

Construction Cost

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