Officials say work on a $346 million toll-lanes project on Interstate 485, which circles Charlotte, is running well behind schedule.
State highway officials said during a recent public meeting of a North Carolina Turnpike Authority committee that the opening of those lanes on I-485, originally planned for fall of 2022, now faces a delay of up to two years, the Charlotte Observer reported
“Wow!” one committee member could be heard blurting out in the meeting.
The project will add an express toll lane in each direction for a stretch of the road and a general-purpose free lane along an often-bottlenecked stretch, the Observer has previously reported.
Former Cornelius Mayor Chuck Travis, a member of the authority's board of directors, warned that the delay could hurt the state's credibility down the road.
“To go back to the public and tell them that we’re stalling this project for another 1 1/2 to 2 years in an area that’s rapidly growing ... for future projects, this has major impact as far as credibility as we build more projects across the state,” he said.
A spokesman for the project's contractor didn't respond to the newspaper's request for comment.