North Carolina Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson told community leaders last week that Interstate 77 toll lanes could provide more community benefits to west Charlotte, so long as local governments reverse an earlier decision and back the project.
One possible community benefit is a new grocery store to address a food desert on West Boulevard.
Charlotte business leader Malcomb Coley organized last Friday’s meeting with Johnson and neighborhood leaders. Coley described the meeting as a listening session in which community members proposed greenways, bike lanes and recreation space for the west side if the toll lanes were built.
He also said Johnson told a group that the private toll lane developer could probably finance those things and also help pay for a new grocery store.
The West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition is trying to raise $15 million to build a grocery co-op near the Stratford Richardson YMCA on West Boulevard.
If DOT were building the toll lanes on its own, it wouldn’t be able to use tax dollars to pay for a grocery store. But because a private developer would finance most of the $4 billion toll lanes, the store could possibly be included as a community benefit.
Motorists would end up paying the cost of the grocery store and other benefits through tolls.
“This is something that has been a problem on the west side for decades,” Coley said.
He also said Johnson said parts of the toll lanes could include a "cap and stitch." The DOT would build a concrete cap over parts of the highway to connect the west side to uptown.
The DOT proposed a concrete cap earlier this year, but it would not cover the entire highway because some of the toll lanes would be elevated.
Corine Mack of the NAACP emailed Charlotte City Council members this week and said people at the meeting felt optimistic about finally implementing initiatives that would address long-standing concerns in Charlotte’s West Corridor communities.
The Charlotte City Council in May voted 6-5 to reject the state’s plan to partner with a private developer to build the toll lanes.
Soon after, the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization voted to reject the project.
But Republican state lawmakers wrote in a provision in the state budget that would require local governments that vote against the project to repay the DOT roughly $60 million in design costs.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who heads the DOT, has criticized the payback provision. But he has not instructed the DOT to present Charlotte with other options to improve the highway that do not include toll lanes.
Charlotte City Council member Victoria Watlington has called on Stein to protect Charlotte and others from having to repay the fine by declaring their actions not unilateral. The state budget requires the DOT to instruct the local governments that they must pay back the money.
Stein’s office declined to answer a question from WFAE as to whether he would do that.
Stein’s office said in a statement this week that “My office and the NCDOT continue to engage local leaders. I continue to believe that decisions about infrastructure and ways to enhance road safety in Charlotte should be collaborative and locally driven.”
Shannon Binns of Sustain Charlotte remains a hard no on the toll lane proposal. He was not invited to Johnson’s meeting.
“Thousands of people from across the city spoke out against this and now Secretary Johnson is trying to cut a deal with a handful of residents as if they represent everyone in Charlotte,” he said.
The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization is voting on the toll lanes again in late September.
