IN THE LAST WEEK

The Mon-Fayette Expressway has been discussed for decades while different pieces were studied, engineered and built using hundreds of millions of dollars in Pennsylvania Turnpike funds. Now the expressway may be at

its end, in more ways than one, before nearly $2 billion more is spent to extend it.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, a multi-county group of officials whose support would be essential to adding 14 miles to the toll road in southern Allegheny County, decided to postpone any vote on the project. The action — or inaction — halts further planning for the highway by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

“If the region does not want to move forward with the expressway, we will certainly respect their decision,” said turnpike CEO Mark Compton.

Of course, the region is not unanimous in its views on the Mon-Fayette. Officials in the Mon Valley, who have long lobbied for it as a vital economic revitalization tool for their area, were disappointed with peers in the rest of the region who questioned the high cost and lengthy timeline for completing additional work.

“If you have bad roads and poor access, your chances of economic development are next to nothing,” said Fayette County Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites. The expressway runs north from his county but stops in Jefferson Hills, well short of the original goal of Pittsburgh or the most recent proposal: a link to Business Route 22 in Monroeville. Mr. Vicites referred to it as “a road to

nowhere” if nothing more is done. If looking for a reason not to build additional highways in the region, one might consider using the latest

population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Between July 2015 and July 2016, six of the seven counties in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area — all except Butler — lost people, according to the bureau. The region’s population drop of 8,972 in that most recent year was exceeded among the nation’s 382 metropolitan areas only by Chicago. Cutbacks in the Marcellus Shale industry and the region’s unusual — for a metro area — status of having more deaths than births each year are among the factors impeding growth.

The region has attracted one new resident, but only to replace another who departed from the University of Pittsburgh. Heather Lyke, the athletic director at Eastern Michigan University, is departing it to accept the same position at Pitt, becoming the first female appointed full time to run the school’s athletic department. She spoke of winning not just conference titles but national ones, including in the big revenue sport of football. “Why not?” Ms. Lyke mused.

Men make up the vast majority of athletic directors at major universities, but Ms Lyke has a peer nearby at Penn State, where Sandy Barbour is athletic director.

The Penn State Jerry Sandusky scandal far predated Ms. Barbour’s appointment, and its last court conviction came Friday. A jury found former university president Graham B. Spanier guilty of one misdemeanor count of endangering children for his handling of the initial allegations that Sandusky abused boys on the school’s campus.