West Charlotte residents are furious that the N.C. Department of Transportation this week said it plans to build elevated express toll lanes on Interstate 77 through uptown, and some protesters shouted down a Charlotte City Council member during a town hall Thursday night.
The DOT said building the new $3.2 billion express toll lanes on top of the existing highway will lessen impacts to nearby neighborhoods, such as McCrorey Heights and Wesley Heights. It also would lessen the impact to Frazier Park and Pinewood Cemetery.
The state also considered building the new express toll lanes at the same elevation as the existing highway. That would create a wider footprint and impact more homes.
But some residents, like Sean Langle, McCrorey Heights neighborhood president, said the elevated toll lanes will be ugly and increase noise pollution. He wants the state to either stop the project or build the lanes underground.
He’s also upset that the DOT didn’t give the public more time to comment on the elevated toll lane proposal, which was unveiled in November.
“Why wasn’t there deliberate community engagement?” Langley said. “It’s very shameful.”
Langley said cities are moving away from building elevated highways and that the DOT’s plan is a poor design from the 1960s. Boston and Seattle have buried interstate highways, and Austin is considering doing the same thing for I-35.
Shannon Binns with the group Sustain Charlotte has also criticized the DOT’s decision, writing that “communities asked for transit and capping on I-77. NC DOT dismissed both."
Capping refers to placing the highway underground and then placing a concrete cap over it.
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham held a town hall Thursday night at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. One of the topics was I-77.
Some members of the crowd shouted and disrupted the meeting to protest the plan. Graham ended the meeting early.
