Scaled-back 228 plan shot down

With a $20 million difference between current funding and what's needed for the full Route 228 plan, Cranberry Township scaled back the proposal. PennDOT has now said that plan is unacceptable.

"Plan B is not acceptable right now to the department,'' said Joseph P. Dubovi III, department executive of Indiana-based PennDOT District 10, during a meeting at the Marriott on Route 228.

Facing a funding shortfall of between $20 and $24 million, Cranberry officials recently asked PennDOT for approval of a "plan B" approach that shaves several key components of the project that already had been approved by PennDOT. The township contends that the plan, though less than ideal, would be sufficient to handle transportation needs for 10 years and would salvage the $65 million that already has been committed to the road project.

The decision could mean that Simon Property Group of Indianapolis withdraws its plans for a 650,000-square-foot development of retail, residential and office space. The complex has been targeted for the north side of Route 228 at Interstate 79. The company had pulled together from a variety of sources a $65 million funding package for the road project, leaving a $20 million to $24 million gap.

PennDOT, which has allocated about $24 million in state money to the project, expects the funding gap to be closed by local and private investment.

The local chamber of commerce said it will mount an all-out lobbying effort to persuade the state either to close the funding gap or allow the scaled-back plans to proceed.