With funding still up in the air, the proposed Mon/Fayette Expressway is still years from getting off the ground in the East Suburbs.

The toll highway is seen as the alternative-route solution to the Parkway East bottleneck at the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, the avenue to encouraging redevelopment of the region's brownfields and eventually the road from Monroeville to Pittsburgh International Airport without having to travel through Downtown.

Local experts will discuss completion of the Mon/ Fayette Expressway and what it means for the future of parts of the East Suburbs and the Mon Valley on Wednesday evening during a town hall meeting at McKeesport Area High School.

Joe Agnello, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission spokesman, likens southwestern Pennsylvania to a body, downtown Pittsburgh to a heart and traffic to the blood that flows through them. The Mon/Fayette, which some say would create the missing "Parkway South," should make the region healthier.

"Obviously, the traffic blood will flow better to the heart," he said.

Eventually, the expressway will link the Morgantown, W.Va., area with Pittsburgh.

"By the year 2012, we will have approximately 60 continuous miles of highway from West Virginia to Route 51," said Joseph Brimmeier, Turnpike CEO.

The remaining link will run eight miles from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills Borough, along the McKeesport and Duquesne brownfields to the vicinity of Kennywood Park, then cross a new bridge over the Monongahela River before splitting into two legs.

One 10-mile fork will travel through North Braddock, Braddock, Rankin and Swissvale before entering Pittsburgh.

The six-mile eastern leg will travel through East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Wilkins and Penn Hills before linking to the Parkway East in Monroeville.

"The (Monroeville Area) Chamber has long been an advocate for seeing the project completed," says Chad Amond, chamber president and a panelist for the town hall meeting. "The economic health and vitality of the East Suburbs is not the same as other regions."

Westinghouse Electric Co.'s decision last year to leave its Monroeville center and build a new nuclear complex in Cranberry didn't strengthen the region as a whole, it only shifted an existing business.

"You've strengthened the northern section of the region at the expense of the East, South and Mon Valley," Amond said.

In light of gasoline prices, Amond cited a Turnpike commission study that projected the highway could save 15,000 gallons of fuel a day and $18 million on fuel costs each year by providing a more effective route to Pittsburgh.

Earlier this year, citing the fact that state funding is not getting the project done on a reasonable timeline, state Rep. Joe Markosek, chairman of the state transportation committee, called on the Turnpike commission to seek alternate funding for the highway.

The commission is in the process of drawing up specifications to pursue a private-sector partnership in order to finish the highway more expediently.

In the 12 years since construction began on the southern portion of the toll road, only $78 million, or 3 percent, of funds have come from the federal government, Agnello said.

Turtle Creek and Braddock are the two communities most impacted by the project.

Turtle Creek could lose as many as 79 residences, 19 businesses and one commercial establishment and Penn Plaza shopping center will have to be relocated.

Braddock would be hardest hit, standing to lose about 196 residences, 17 active businesses and eight community facilities, including the fire hall and post office.

In each of those areas, design advisory teams have been working with final design teams to develop solutions that are sensitive to both transportation and community needs.

Jim Long, who facilitates the Turtle Creek team, said local input has affected flood control issues and raising the bridge over Turtle Creek to 91 feet to provide more light for the town below. The team consensus on such issues will be honored even if the Turnpike commission partners with private corporations, Long stressed.

Howard Davidson, Penn Hills planning director, pushed for the expressway to include ramps into the Thompson Run corridor at the Penn Hills-Monroeville border to attract development to the 200-acre Universal Atlas Cement site, which is being demolished, and the nearby U.S. Steel slag dump.

Penn Hills municipal council and planning commission have gone on record in support of the expressway project, said Davidson.

"That whole Mon/Fayette project was to stimulate economic growth on brownfields," Davidson said. "We want to see that."

In the meantime, Penn Hills continues to promote the sites for future development, even if it means using the existing road system.

"We're moving ahead even if the Mon/Fayette doesn't materialize," Davidson said.

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'Expressway to Rebirth' next week

"Expressway to Rebirth of the Mon Valley," a town hall meeting, will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday at McKeesport Area High School auditorium, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., across from the Penn State Greater Allegheny campus.

The meeting will enable local residents to speak to experts about the completion of the Mon/Fayette Expressway and what it means for the future of the region.

Panelists include Joseph Kirk, executive director, The Mon Valley Progress Council Inc.; state Rep. Joseph Markosek, chairman of the House Transportation Committee; Andrew Quinn, Kennywood director of community relations; Chad Amond, Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce president; and Joseph Brimmeier, chief executive officer, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

The meeting is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation, Pennsylvania Cable Network and Trib Total Media.