The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization continues to wrestle with a looming $60 million payback to the state for I-77 toll lanes planning if it remains opposed to the project.
At the group's meeting Wednesday night, Charlotte City Council member Ed Driggs said the council's transportation committee discussed possible paths forward during its most recent meeting. For now, however, Charlotte remains opposed to the plan.
"I think I've made clear that I personally hope that we can figure out a way to get this done because $300 million in corridor investment, $100 million in bonus money and so on are big incentives," Driggs said. "It's an opportunity to invest in a part of Charlotte that has been underinvested, frankly."
Matthews Mayor John Higdon said local leaders need more time to evaluate alternatives.
"There's no way we're going to have an alternatives analysis done by our next CRTPO meeting," Higdon said. "We need more time. This is an impossible deadline to have a real alternatives analysis done."
The regional planning organization plans to vote again on the project at its Sept. 23 meeting.
The state budget sets Oct. 5 as the deadline for local leaders to drop their opposition to the toll lanes plan.
