The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is ready to begin construction of an interchange on the Southern Beltway in the Pittsburgh area.
The commission last week awarded a $116.2 million contract to Trumbull Corp. for the 2.75-mile section of the $800 million toll road. Preliminary work to clear brush is expected to start in the next few weeks, and the section should be completed in early 2021. The work will be along a middle part of the new highway from Quicksilver Road to the Panhandle Trail. When the entire 13-mile highway is done in early 2022, it will link Rte. 22 to I-79 and provide an alternate route to Pittsburgh International Airport.
The agency had extended negotiations with the McDonald Sportsmen’s Association before agreeing to pay $5 million for 70.9 acres of land so it could build an interchange on what used to be the northeast corner of the club. Turnpike engineers decided to build the interchange at that site and install connector roads to link with Rte. 980 to the north and Noblestown Road to the south because of the rough topography in that area of Robinson Township in Washington County.
Trumbull will be installing twin steel curved girder bridges at the eastern end of the construction site, which will stretch more than a quarter mile over Noblestown Road and the Panhandle and Montour trails. The structures will have seven piers. The westbound side will be 1,524 ft long while the eastbound side will be 1,448 ft long.
Most of the new toll road will open in late 2021, but part of the interchange likely will not be finished until 2022.
----------
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
