To prevent someone else from buying it and opening a new business, the Pennsylvania Turnpike has purchased a Cranberry trucking company for a widening project still in its early stages.
Earlier this month, the turnpike commission agreed to pay $1.8 million to buy the Rochester Road site of the Warren C. Sauers Co. Inc. from the Lori Jean Trattner Living Trust. Trattner is the company’s CEO.
Turnpike spokeswoman Rosanne Placey said the site recently was listed for sale, and the agency decided to buy the 2.52-acre property on Rochester Road because it will need the land for a future widening project.
“The project is in the study phase,” Placey said. “However, because of the potential commercial development along Rochester Road, it was decided to acquire it in advance.”
The site eventually will be part of the turnpike’s statewide effort to widen the toll road from two lanes in each direction to three lanes. The Cranberry project is complicated because it also includes a study to widen Rochester, which passes under the turnpike there as a two-lane road.
Over the summer, the turnpike hired a design consultant for the turnpike project that also will study the feasibility of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation widening Rochester to five lanes of traffic plus pedestrian and bike facilities. If that is possible, the turnpike would make its 28-foot, 3-inch bridge above Rochester longer to accommodate the longer road.
The turnpike expects the two studies to take as long as two years, followed by final design, additional property acquisition, environmental clearances and lining up funding. That means the work won’t be done for five to seven years.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.