Harrisburg – February 17, 2023 – With a new administration taking charge in Harrisburg, Sen. Jim Brewster is leading a bipartisan effort to push for expedited completion of the long-delayed Mon-Fayette Expressway.
In a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro, Brewster and a group of Southwest Pennsylvania senators are asking the administration to consider using federal infrastructure funds to speed completion of the final section of the roadway which has been planned and built for more than four decades but remains a few miles short of completion.
The final piece of the road – crossing the Monongahela River in Duquesne and linking to the Parkway in Monroeville – is being planned but has been plagued by delays due to funding gaps which have not been fully addressed.
“With the elements in the new federal bill, lawmakers have it within their means to significantly reduce the wait and build confidence that government can deliver a massive project for the common good,” the senators wrote. “We speak for colleagues on both sides of the aisle – and at all levels of government – when we urge you to meet with us to gain a better understanding of the opportunities that the completion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway offers for our region and our commonwealth.”
The lawmakers noted that the sections of the highway that have already been completed have delivered on the promise of economic growth in the region served.
“The completion of 54 miles of highway has created an economic resurgence along its path, attracting manufacturing, tourism, and many other businesses along its length. Chevron, Boeing, Johnson Mathey and numerous natural gas entities are using the existing highway for their growing operations,” the letter says. “However, continued progress remains stymied by the failure to move forward on completing the final 13 miles, thus leaving unfinished an economic superhighway connecting multimodal transportation routes throughout the region.”
The bipartisan letter can be found here.