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The planned flyover ramp into the RIDC Industrial Park is one step closer to existence.

Allegheny County officials have reached a preliminary agreement with the owners of the Eat'n Park on Lysle Boulevard to take part of the restaurant's parking lot.

Terms are not yet public, but county officials expect to have more information with in a week, says Colleen Elms, spokeswoman for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.

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City officials have offered to vacate part of an alley next to the restaurant, and trade the property to Eat'n Park, in exchange for the right-of-way through the parking lot. Elms could not verify whether that deal, was, in fact, going forward.

However, no agreement has yet been finalized with the neighboring Rite-Aid pharmacy, Elms says. That property is owned by a Hermitage, Tenn., investor.

The long-promised flyover ramp has been a goal of both RIDC and city officials ever since the industrial park was created on the former U.S. Steel National Works site two decades ago. Access to the site is limited to railroad crossings at Center and Locust streets, which has discouraged some potential tenants.

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The center's largest tenant, a call center operated by Dish Network, closed in March, leaving 800 people without work.

City officials have met with three potential tenants, Mayor Jim Brewster says. One of the tenants was interested in the former Dish Network building, while another wanted the unfinished space adjacent to that structure.

Each of the tenants would bring several hundred employees, he says, but the lack of unhampered vehicle access is an obstacle to selling or renting property on the site.

Allegheny County Council has opened bids on construction of the ramp, ranging from $5.7 million to $8 million, but those bids are subject to change, Elms says, and the final cost won't be known until the construction contract is awarded by the county's public works department. Earlier estimates quoting a "$14 million" price tag for construction of the ramp are erroneous, she says.

(Editor's Note: The $14 million figure has been quoted by various news outlets, including the Almanac, and appears to have come from a 2008 Allegheny County press release.)

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The project is being funded in part through a $6 million grant from the federal "stimulus" package for infrastructure improvements.

No groundbreaking has been scheduled, Elms says, because construction cannot begin until the county officially takes possession of the property.

The flyover ramp will cross the CSX Railroad tracks and allow traffic to enter the industrial park directly from the foot of Coursin Street.

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