South Fayette commissioners pledge $200,000 for Route 50 widening project
South Fayette commissioners voted during their May 9 meeting to contribute $200,000 to the recently-announced Route 50 improvement project.
The state Department of Transportation hosted a public meeting April 19 in Bridgeville to roll out the details to reconstruct one of the most congested areas in the South Hills.
Commissioner Gwen Rodi said when the Route 50 Task Force, which is composed of Allegheny County, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, local municipalities and state representatives, started discussing the project with PennDOT, South Fayette promised to make a monetary contribution to help with the project.
“We had a public hearing on this about two weeks ago, and everybody was pretty supportive of it,” Rodi said. “In order to secure the grant funding and get the project approved, South Fayette agreed to a $200,000 contribution.”
At the public meeting in April, the project’s design consultant said the construction at the intersection of Route 50 and Washington Pike, and also the widening of the bridge over Chartiers Creek, will improve traffic flow.
“It’s going to give us a seven-lane bridge and dedicated turning lanes onto Chartiers Street to alleviate some of the traffic,” Rodi said.
Construction is set to begin in 2020, with most of the construction taking place during off-peak hours. PennDOT has not yet set a projected completion date.
Also during the meeting, Newbury Market executives briefly updated the board on the development’s progress.
Brett Malky, president of EQA Landmark Communities and Newbury’s developer, said the construction at Topgolf and Carvana are both going as planned.
“It’s exciting times to say the least,” Malky said.
Topgolf Pittsburgh, which is expected to open on July 16, recently announced it is hiring 500 employees. Carvana, Malky said, is under construction and hoping to be completed before the end of the year.
“In the coming weeks we’ll start to see that 70-foot, all glass, cool tower emerge from the ground,” Malky said.
Jared Imperatore, vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle retail brokerage, then updated the board about the 216,000-square-foot entertainment district at Newbury. Imperatore, who has worked on attracting tenants to Newbury since last November, said “activity has been extremely strong.”
Imperatore said he is looking at several different types of entertainment for the development, including a rock climbing facility, a fitness center, a movie theater, a trampoline park and a pet hotel. He is also in talks with restaurants, banks and childcare companies for Newbury’s main street.
“It’s exciting to see the progress,” Rodi said.