CHARLESTON-

West Virginia Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox announces the completion of the Mon/Fayette Expressway and will be joined by Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Greg Nadeau as well as other federal, state and local officials from West Virginia and Pennsylvania at a ribbon cutting celebration Monday, July 11, 2011 beginning at 10:30 a.m.  The event will take place on the Expressway approximately 2 miles north of the Cheat Lake/Fairchance Road exit of I-68 (exit 10).  The public is invited to attend.

“We are extremely excited to be able to celebrate the completion of West Virginia’s 3.85 mile segment of the Mon/Fayette Expressway,” stated Secretary Mattox.  “Working in partnership with the FHWA, our congressional delegation in Washington, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and transportation officials in Pennsylvania, the traveling public will now enjoy a safe and efficient 4-lane expressway between Morgantown, WV and Uniontown, PA.”

After the West Virginia ceremony, dignitaries from both states will be bused along the 3.85 miles of new roadway to the Pennsylvania State line to cut a ribbon marking the opening of the entire 8 miles of the Pennsylvania side of the Mon/Fayette that link I-68 with a new interchange at U.S. Route 119 north of Uniontown.  Upon completion of the Uniontown to Brownsville Project in 2012, approximately 60 continuous miles of the Mon/Fayette Expressway will be open to traffic between I-68 in West Virginia and PA Route 51 in Jefferson Hills borough in southeastern Allegheny County.

-30-