PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Work hasn’t started yet on a proposed new interchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but there’s one thing local business owner Marjie Previc is worried about.
“The fact that I have to move,” Previc said.
Previc has owned Marjie’s Flowers for 39 years.
For the last five, she’s been at the intersection of PA130 and Sandy Hill Road. That’s where the new proposed interchange will likely be built, between the Irwin and Pittsburgh interchanges.
Previc just expanded her shop last year.
“I wanted to be here until the day I retired,” Previc said. “I wasn’t thinking about them coming and tearing the building down to put in a new road.”
Channel 11 asked the Turnpike Commission about Previc’s concerns and whether or not she will have to move her shop somewhere else.
“At this time, being we’re so early in the preliminary stages and I don’t know how the interchange will look, I don’t know if we would need the flower shop or the subway to be relocated or not,” said Mohammed Mohammed of the PA Turnpike Commission.
The preliminary planning stage is expected to last about two years. The final design phase will take about four years, and then construction will start.
Chuck Miller, the Penn Township Commissioner who represents this area said his concerns are also about the infrastructure there, as well as the Penn Township Ambulance hub.
“Having a centrally located ambulance base in the township is key, and property is at a prime,” Miller said. “That is one of my major concerns with the turnpike going in, however, we haven’t been told if that property is going to be affected yet.”
While the design isn’t finished, one thing the Turnpike Commission said should help keep things like businesses and Penn Township Ambulance in place is the open-toll design.
“We don’t need as much space in that area compared to when we had the traditional toll booths that required a lot more space and infrastructure to make those interchanges possible,” added Crispin Havener of the Turnpike Commission.
The Turnpike Commission wants the public to submit comments and concerns and will have meetings in the future.
Previc said even though she hopes she doesn’t have to move, she sees the pros and cons.
“A lot of people aren’t going to have to travel to Monroeville or Irwin from right here to get on the turnpike,” Previc said. “The bad thing is that it’s going to make the traffic here already worse than it already is.”
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