An expansion under way at the Veterans Affairs health-care center in O'Hara has some neighbors and officials worried about traffic, sewers and other issues.

About 40 people showed up Tuesday morning to talk about their concern at a forum sponsored by the Fox Chapel branch of the American Association of University Women.

That evening, O'Hara council decided to write to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, to request that the VA put in writing its plans for traffic control, sewers, storm water drainage and safety at the VA facility on Delafield Road.

The expansion is part of a $200 million project the VA announced in 2004 that also will expand the VA center in Oakland and eventually close the VA facility on Highland Drive in the Lincoln-Lemington section of Pittsburgh.

The final building at the O'Hara site is expected to be finished in 2009, according to the VA.

The VA center in O'Hara is named the H. John Heinz III Progressive Care Center but is commonly called the Aspinwall Veterans Hospital.

A growing number of people want more information about how the expansion in O'Hara will affect nearby roads and other infrastructure, which already are strained, said Margaret McGrath, of Fox Chapel, who organized the AAUW program.

Representatives of the VA declined an invitation to be on a panel that was part of the Tuesday program, she said.

One panel member, Eric Hamilton, of O'Hara, who has served on a committee of neighbors and who has met with VA officials, said his group had not received written commitments from the VA that it will provide and pay for improvements the communities believe are necessary.

Yesterday, David Cowgill, public and community relations coordinator for the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, addressed in an e-mail the 254,000-square-foot expansion, which will include an ambulatory care building, residences, an administration building and other support buildings.

He said VA representatives had met with O'Hara, Fox Chapel and Aspinwall officials a number of times over the past 18 months and had made commitments to address traffic matters.

The department has agreed to help pay for upgrading the intersection at Fox Chapel and Delafield roads because the expanded VA facility will add traffic to the intersection, Mr. Cowgill wrote. "Once the scope of the work has been developed, the VA will determine its level of financial assistance," he wrote.

The VA will update current and expected traffic volumes and, if that information supports the need for a traffic signal at the VA entrance on Delafield, the VA will pay for installation of the light, he wrote.

Bernie Rossman, chief road engineer for Allegheny County and a member of UUAW panel, said an additional traffic study was under way because of concern raised by township staff.

Other steps the VA will take for the expansion, Mr. Cowgill wrote, is to demolish two vacant buildings on the property and install a privacy fence along the southern border of the site.

O'Hara Manager Julie Jakubec, who also served on the AAUW panel, said the township hadn't received written information on the projected amount of sewage from the expanded site or how it would be handled.

She told council Tuesday night that she believed O'Hara's sewer lines are too small to handle the increased amount and will have to be replaced.

"[The VA] will have to pay for the larger lines," she said.

The next step is a meeting with officials from the VA and the municipalities this month or next, Ms. Jakubec said.