It was a road ride you can't take often, but what a ride it was:

Four lanes of concrete, no-hassle hills, fantastic fall foliage and no unauthorized traffic.

It was Community Day on the Expressway, hosted Oct. 11 by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. It gave bicyclists and walkers a preview of the first phase of the $200 million Uniontown-to-Brownsville-Area Project of the Mon-Fayette Expressway before its official opening Oct. 23.

Translated, that meant that several hundred of us biked or walked all or part of 8.2 miles of new highway on a sunny, blue-sky day that dawned at 43 degrees and warmed to 76 degrees.

"Isn't this wonderful?" asked Polly Rose of Confluence as she pedaled her recumbent bike with a group of riders from that Somerset County town.

Yes, it was.

Bicyclists and walkers set out from near the Searights Road interchange in Menallen, Fayette County, for a round-trip ride or walk of 16.4 miles.

Bill Metzger of Confluence, who rides an arm-powered recumbent trike, shouted "10,000" when his odometer showed he had traveled 10,000 miles on it. "Couldn't have picked a nicer day for it," he said with a smile.

Steps to a Healthier Fayette County sponsored a Family Fun Walk, a "Modes of Transportation" parade was held and the Chris Higbee Project provided live, hand-clappin', foot-tappin' country music in the white pavilion.

The celebration also included food vendors, information booths and a children's area that featured balloon art and a trackless train. Edenfield Bus Lines provided yellow buses for those who didn't have a bike or didn't want to walk.

In addition to Steps to a Healthier Fayette County, the event was held in conjunction with the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and the National Road Heritage Corridor and its construction manager, TCMS Maguire, said Joe Agnello, spokesman for the turnpike commission.

"These community days have been amazingly popular," Agnello said.

The most recent community days were in October 2006, when six miles of the Findlay Connector opened near the Pittsburgh International Airport, and April 2002, when 17 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway were completed between Interstate 70 in Washington County and Jefferson Hills in Allegheny County.

And the next one?

"Construction is under way on 9.1 miles of the expressway. It starts in Redstone Township in Fayette County, will cross the Monongahela River on a new bridge and enters Centerville Borough in Washington County," Agnello said. "We're looking to have that finished in October 2011."

As I said, these are rides you can't take often. Mark your calendars.

Tom Baxter, executive director of the Friends of the Riverfront, said the final engineering and design work has been completed for a one-half mile segment of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail that parallels the Allegheny River between Millvale and Pittsburgh.

"Construction may begin as early as June," he said. "It is the intent of PennDOT and FOR to have the trail completed before the beginning of the Route 28 Relocation Project." That work also includes the relocation of CSX railroad tracks.

Baxter said the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has contributed $500,000 toward the $2.7 million cost of the job. The price includes elevating the trail on concrete pillars to a maximum height of 15 feet to keep it above the 100-year flood plain.