Mon Valley Toll Road-planks-Rauterkus

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== Standing against the Mon Valley Expressway's entry into the city. ==
* The extension of the Mon Valley Tollway that enters the city is a bad idea for both the City of Pittsburgh and for the region. The leg of the toll road that goes north from the Mon Valley and joins to Monroeville could be built. The other part of the road that is to run into the city and trample the older, riverside neighborhoods and end at the foot of Bates Street in Oakland should not be built.
Valid reasons to speak out and fight against that road's construction include:
===Reasons ===
# The road is too expensive. The cost per mile is exorbitant.
# The road takes too much valuable land that should be developed.
# The road enters the city and shrinks the city's tax base. Too much land is already owned and operated by the nonprofit sector. The new Mon Valley Toll Road, owned by the Turnpike Commission, makes for a large increase in nonproft land ownership and control.
# The road needs to utilize eminent domain.
# There are no funds for the toll road's construction. They don't have the money.
## The PA Turnpike Commission acknowledges that they don't have the estimated $1.2 billion (in 2000 dollars) needed to construct the toll roads. They estimate that it will need a legislative guarantee of $106.6 million each year for 20 years from the state's highway funding from the federal government.
# We should fix up the roads we already have. Funding the toll road eliminateds needed alternatives. Moving the necessary money into the Turnpike Commission's accounts means every other part of the state must give up nearly 10-percent of their funding for roads and mass transit. The toll road building robs the city of Pittsburgh of money for fixing streets and bridges.
# We have to fix and modernize bridges and sewers that we already have.
# Building urban boulevards through the city makes better sense.
# The health hazards for the road would harm thousands.
# A build out of heavy rail would make for much better service.
# It causes sprawl.
# Legal challenges are guaranteed.
# The bending rivers, steep hillsides, existing rails and established neighborhoods are such that the road does not fit.
# South Chicago has a Calumett Expressway. It stinks.
# Benefits land speculators.
# Road advocates donated to both Tom Murphy's and Bob O'Connor's campaigns in 2001. Bob's own district was strongly agains the road, but Bob's loyalty was purchased.
# The road dumps all the traffic onto Bates Ave.
# Parkway East tie-ups won't ease.
# We don't need it. In a shrinking region with declining population, we should not need new roads, but should preserve what we have at present. If the city was growing at a high rate, then the demands would different. The demand for getting to Pittsburgh is less as the people are fewer.
# In a world where digital documents and technology are more and more important, we do not need to move people and goods on roads like in the past. More and more meetings are going to occur with technology tools rather than travel on roadways.
# this road needs to be built. Pittsburgh is always against progress.
# This road would help the south hills like 279 helped the north.
# People will not have to drive the parkway to go east and west or vice versa they will have another route.'
# The current road is used more and more as prices of gas go up people are realizing it is worth taking the toll road.
# This would help elimitate some of the pollution people would get to there destination faster rather than sitting on the parkway and causing more pollution.
# Hopefully with this being passed they can get the rest built. 2012-07-05: Pennsylvania is becoming the 33rd state to have a law enabling public private transport projects. A public private transportation partnership (PPTB or P3) bill long championed by Rick Geist, chairman of the state house transport committee was passed unanimously in the state senate in August 2012 and by a large majority (117 to 79) in the state house the prior week, also in August 20112.
* As an elected city councilman, I'd issue a call for a non-binding referendum about the toll road's entry into the city. This would air out the debate again.