The draft budget bill in Raleigh includes a provision that could require Charlotte and other local governments to pay the state for more than $60 million in design costs spent on the now-rejected Interstate 77 toll lanes.
The provision was sponsored by Republican State Senator Vickie Sawyer. It’s meant to get the controversial, $4 billion I-77 south toll lanes back on track.
The Charlotte City Council rescinded its support for the toll lanes in May, and the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization then did the same. The North Carolina Department of Transportation then said the project is dead.
The new provision allows for the CRTPO to change its mind and support the toll lanes again.
If not, Charlotte and other, smaller municipalities in the region would have 90 days to repay the state $64 million that’s been spent designing the highway.
But the legislation does give Charlotte an escape hatch.
The DOT, which is headed by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, could decide that the decision to kill the toll lanes was not “unilateral.” If the DOT agrees with the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization’s vote to end the toll lane project, then no one would have to repay the state.
That could put tremendous pressure on Stein in the coming months: Back the business community that wants the toll lanes, or side with the mostly Black communities near I-77 that oppose them.
Stein has so far stayed on the sidelines of the roughly seven‑month fight over the toll lanes.
Two weeks ago, he talked about the project during a visit to Charlotte. He said I-77 is “one of the most crowded urban highways” and said “the need is clearly there for some fix,” according to the Charlotte Observer.
He also said, “I trust the people of Charlotte to come up with a fix that makes sense for them.”
Sawyer’s original amendment called for the state to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of buying out the contract with the company that manages the toll lanes on I-77 in north Mecklenburg. That didn’t make it into the budget bill.
On Monday, Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham called for an independent study on other options to improve the highway.
