Posted on 10/14/2021 9:23:25 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The cost to construct the Southern Beltway from Route 22 to Interstate 79 has been high — and it’s not just the $900 million price tag.
Construction of the 13-mile highway disrupted lives, livelihoods and the environment along the path it carved through the countryside. The most extensive damage occurred in southern McDonald, Washington County, where reshaping the terrain initiated or exacerbated flooding problems that ended up chasing several families from their homes.
We can say that the Turnpike Commission should have been more careful, and we have. But the truth is that there are always unintended consequences when excavating 27 million cubic yards of earth and installing 2 million cubic yards of pavement, 22 million pounds of structural steel and 2.5 miles of concrete beams. No matter how good we get at building highways, they will always be lacerations on the landscape, and the scars they leave behind may never heal.
The promise, however, is always that the benefits will outweigh the costs. And we should hold out hope that this will be the case with the Southern Beltway. Let’s consider the possibilities.
Most famously, the Route 22 to I-79 segment has been sold as a shortcut to and from Pittsburgh International Airport for travelers from southwest Allegheny County, Washington County, and points south. The truth is that drivers who choose the Beltway will spend $3.90 (if they have EZ-Pass, or twice as much if they don’t) for the privilege of saving ... one-half mile off the usual route.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
PING!
It will be like the hi-speed train in kali-fornia, a money pit of corruption.
All you need to is check and whose land will have be acquired and at what price to know how the politicians will value it.
“and the scars they leave behind may never heal.”
Not to worry. In a billion years the sun will vaporize it all.
In PA, like most states, it is worth it once all the bribes have been paid and the construction graft money has been spent or in the bank...
The problem I’ve seen for decades in major metro areas is they are so far behind on infrastructure that everything they build is obsolete about the time it opens.
Scars, eh?
I guess the writer is the fella I see walking barefoot thru the woods all the time.
Just several?
I would have guessed HUNDREDS!!! - mostly children.
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