How often do you use Rt43 Mon-Fayette Expressway? (Pittsburgh, Uniontown: price, best)

[Bazzwell]

One point that might be worth remembering is that I-79 was a vast wasteland when new. Those first few years there was a whole lot of nothing all the way to Erie. I remember when the only thing actually off an interchange beyond the turnpike intersection was a single Exxon station. Now look at it.

[Benzman66]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's near Overbrook where I saw it on the "T".
I've thought it was an uncompleted highway both times I've seen it while driving.

Scott,
That is the South Busway I think you probably saw, which is only used by emergency vehicles and buses, but is a 2 lane highway.

43 does not run anywhere near the T line. You actually would have to travel out 51 past Pleasant Hills a few miles and then turn on to 43. It is pretty much "in the sticks".

[italianbluesboy]

When I lived in Monongahela I used it once or twice a month. Traffic was always very light, and it is overpriced.

[smokecitytdi]

43 is the Western Pa Autobahn. No cars, 1 or 2 cops. Sportbikes love the roadway. 150+ is not an unheard of speed. My friend was at 140+ when another bike passed him???

[NANDOAL]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

To put it simply, there is so little traffic on it that when my brother uses it to go out to Cal U, he goes at least 80 on the road and never gets any problems but also gets passed up

Nice the autobahn in Pittsburgh!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Bazzwell

One point that might be worth remembering is that I-79 was a vast wasteland when new. Those first few years there was a whole lot of nothing all the way to Erie. I remember when the only thing actually off an interchange beyond the turnpike intersection was a single Exxon station. Now look at it.

The thing is that I don't really want any future development in the Pittsburgh region to be scattered out along a new highway stretching 80 miles through mostly nowhere. And I think that is going to be a tough sell anyway as energy prices increase, the U.S. population ages, and ongoing shifts in living preferences cause a trend toward more compact development patterns.

[stasia]

I used it a couple of times: got on at Large, exited at Finleyville. For the 5 minutes that route saved, it wasn't worth the toll. Haven't used it in over 4 years now ...

[jimsmith022968]

I use the road quite often. Sometimes, there is more traffic than you would expect.

I think traffic would pick up greatly if the sections to Pittsburgh and Monroeville are built. But, traffic will probably pick up a bit when the West Virginia segment opens in October 2010 and the remainder of the Uniontown-Brownsville segment opens in late 2011. Then, there will be 55-60 miles of uninterrupted expressway. Right now, though, the gaps make it quite unattractive for travel.

They have to take this highway to Pittsburgh. A big reason for such low traffic volumes on Route 43 is that its (currently) a segmented road to nowhere that traverses a very rural area of the state. The segment to I-376 is key. I hope that our politicians realize that turning back now would be a huge waste of resources.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by jimsmith022968

I hope that our politicians realize that turning back now would be a huge waste of resources.

It was a bad idea to spend over a billion on this project, but that isn't a good argument for wasting another $2 billion (probably more) on driving it into the East End. There are many other ways that money could be spent that would collectively do much more to improve transportation in Pittsburgh.

[Geeo]

The road will never be finished to Pittsburgh in our lifetime. It's too much money, and they would have to dislocate too many homes and businesses in an urban area. The East Street Valley Expressway (I-279) to the North Hills was the last highway that would ever obliterate an entire neighborhood and displace so many people so that cars could get to Butler County ten minutes faster.

I agree with BrianTH that the age of the superhighway is past and future generations won't be living like we do.