Mon-Fayette Expressway

Returning to Pittsburgh from the Morgantown/​Uniontown areas, signage directs you to follow Route 43 to Pittsburgh. GPS navigation usually takes us home on Route 51. Confusing as that is, I’ve usually just gone with Route 51, until recently, without a navigator, I decided to follow the signs…
PA Route 43, or the Mon-​Fayette Expressway, is a fancy new road, very smooth, with tolls to be paid along the way, and at some of the exits. The tolls are frequent and in super annoying dollar amounts, like $ 1.10 and $.80. The Turnpike web toll calculator (
), says the cost of the trip from Morgantown to Pittsburgh is $ 19.20! That hardly seems right, but it’s all the more reason not to choose this way. I did not pay THAT much, but, then again, access to the road ENDED in the midst of my route.
So, yeah, the route is not complete! It ends near Brownsville, where you pick up Route 40, and then I guess you’re supposed to regain access to 43 (but don’t be fooled, it ends again, as it still has no connecter with Pittsburgh), or maybe cut over to 51 (which I should have taken in the first place) however I did not see those opportunities and followed 40 all the way out the lovely town of Scenery Hill. The fun really began there. And three hours after leaving Uniontown, I found my way home, via a much belated discovery and appreciation of Route 51.
Maybe I am just stupid for traveling without GPS, for following signs without consulting my atlas, for taking a toll road when I knew there was a free way and for not knowing that the route was not finished. Everyone else seemed to already know not to use this route, as it was an open roooad. But I felt duped.
A comprehensive history of the route can be found here: