A big finish

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission wants to deal.

In an attempt to finish the remaining 50 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway, officials are offering control of sections of the toll road already completed and under construction. In exchange, the joint venture or private investor would have to pony up $5.2 billion to complete that last stretch of the Mon-Fayette and Southern Beltway.

The Turnpike Commission will hold a special hearing on Sept. 17 for parties interested in a public-private partnership.

“I’m going to tell these people [at the meeting] that this isn’t your typical project, that they have a blank slate and they can be as creative as they want,” Turnpike Commission Chief Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It’s a totally different deal than anywhere else in the country or world.”

What the Turnpike Commission will be giving up specifically is about $1.9 billion in land, concrete, steel and toll equipment involved in the building of 57 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway and the six-mile Findlay Connector; all the planning, studies and engineering that has gone into the construction; and the ability to levy and collect tolls on the highways.

The Mon-Fayette Expressway was expected to eventually reach Pittsburgh when all is said and done, but this deal would allow the investors to downsize the scale if they think it is financially unfeasible.