Events

Tom Petty said the waiting is the hardest part, and the Turnpike Commission can attest to that musical proclamation. The Mason-Dixon Link, the portion from said line of demarcation to Exit 8 of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, was built in the late 1990s and opened for the most part on March 1, 2000. The exception was the piece from West Virginia to Exit 2 which would remain unopened for a little over a decade due to construction of WV 43 taking longer than projected due to finance issues. Ironically that problem would be solved during the economic downturn of the latter part of the last decade when ARRA, or economic stimulus, dollars were provided to the states for "shovel-ready" projects.

At last, the time finally came to let that "new road smell" loose and allow vehicles other than construction company ones to drive across the state line. For it was on July 11, 2011 that not one, but two ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held: one south of the Mason-Dixon Line and one north.

West Virginia Department of Transportation was up first at 10:30 AM and they brought their starting line-up of dignitaries including Senator Joe Manchin III and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. Below is some footage from the West Virginia ceremony.



After the ribbon was cut, it was time to jump into the shuttle buses that were provided or your personal vehicle and head back north into Pennsylvania. Our ribbon-cutting event was not as long nor as well attended by dignitaries as West Virginia's, and it seems the size of the water bottles each had for attendees was reflective of these traits of the respective ceremonies.



The people most responsible for the highway coming into existence are behind the sign, from left to right: PTC Commissioner J. William Lincoln, new PTC CEO William K. Lieberman, Senator Richard Kasunic, and former Senator J. Barry Stout.

The ribbon was cut and thus marked the end of the 11 year wait for the Mon-Fayette Expressway's "Mason-Dixon Link" to finally cross the Mason-Dixon Line.

Officials Open Yet Another Part of Mon-Fayette Expressway - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review