They arrived by the hundreds early Saturday, some bringing bicycles, others aboard scooters and many more on foot — all interested in taking part in the same surreal experience.
It’s not every day, after all, that the public gets to break in a brand new divided highway or to have the pavement stretching for miles all to themselves before it officially opens to traffic.
That may be why even the threat of rain in South Fayette was not enough to depress turnout as the Pennsylvania Turnpike offered the community a sneak peek at an about-to-open section of the Southern Beltway. In fact, the crowd far exceeded expectations.
A 5-mile portion running toward McDonald was essentially the public’s to roam until 1 p.m.
“We knew this was a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity, so we had to take advantage of it,” said Christopher Beers, 42, of Canonsburg.
He snapped a picture of himself and his 10-year-old daughter, Hailey, in front of a mile marker along the road they expect to travel for years to come.
His daughter, still six years from being a driver, summed up the experience in one word: “Exciting.”
Others seemed as impressed. “The zombies have taken over Pittsburgh and Dormont!” one adult shouted playfully as he passed by with a child. But the vehicle-less roadway around them was not the result of any apocalypse.
The beltway project will open to motorists in stages, starting Friday.
The first arrivals Saturday were well ahead of the event’s 9 a.m. start.
Many had small children in tow. Others including retirees brought their pets. “Look, there’s a unicycle,” one man shouted.
“There’s been a steady stream of people since 8:30 a.m.,“ said Renee Colborn, a turnpike spokeswoman, though she did not have a a more specific estimate than well into the hundreds.
Planning for the highway stretches back four decades to the 1980s with the intent of a better path to what today is Pittsburgh International Airport. For five years, construction crews carved a path through hills and valleys for the project linking Route 22 with Interstate 79 along the border of Allegheny and Washington counties.
The project and its cost have been the subject of some controversy, but the mood Saturday was decidedly upbeat as individuals from the community and beyond videoed themselves doing what on any other day would be death-defying — even narrating the experience as they traversed a roadway empty of cars and trucks, holding their cellphones out and in front of them.
The road and its supports have been rising above two popular bike paths, the Montour and Panhandle trails, so some who know the project only from that vantage were finally getting to see the whole thing from above.
The five miles open to the community Saturday extended from the South Fayette Way (Exit #16) to McDonald/Midway (Exit #11). It is part of a 13-mile corridor and a project totaling $900 million that many hope will also encourage economic growth.
Walkers and bikers started at the South Fayette Way entrance ramp to what is called PA Turnpike 576. Employees and others were ready to give them a tour of the construction, setting up water stations along the route and offering brochures with information about the beltway.
They were able to pass through one of three toll points of the new corridor, which employs overhead gantries and scanners. meaning motorists can pay either from their E-ZPass accounts or the PA Toll By Plate program.
Cars with E-ZPass will be charged $1.30 at each gantry, while those choosing the Toll-By-Plate, in which a photo is taken of their vehicle's license plate, will be sent a bill by mail for double the E-ZPass rate.
Of course, none of that applied Saturday.
Lynn Wilde, 57, of Lawrence, Washington County, and her friend and co-worker Kerry Angiolelli, 54, had just completed a four-mile round trip walk a little after 10 a.m.
Ms. Wilde said seeing from a different vantage the farmland and other scenery in South Fayette and surrounding areas was a big draw. “It’s just beautiful,” she said.
Ms. Angiolelli, a former flight attendant from West Mifflin who once lived in the beltway area, said she knows from experience the difficulty of getting to the airport in traffic.
“For the convenience of it, I’d don’t mind paying the toll,” she said.
Neither woman, just off finishing a route with a gradual but noticeable slope, hesitated when asked whether their walk in light rain and a breeze was level. “No,” they both said with a laugh simultaneously.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner
First Published: October 9, 2021, 5:03 p.m.
Updated: October 10, 2021, 2:31 a.m.