Matthews Mayor John Higdon said the city of Charlotte should offer to pay financial penalties for small towns that stick with their vote to stop the controversial Interstate 77 toll lanes.
Higdon’s statement comes as the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization board will vote, again, on Sept. 23 whether or not to back the toll lanes.
If the project isn’t approved, Republican state lawmakers passed a provision in the state budget that requires local governments who oppose the project to repay the nearly $70 million in design costs the state has spent on the toll lanes. The Department of Transportation released a list of expenses last week dating back to 2018. That’s six years before the CRTPO voted in the fall of 2024 to back the state’s plan to partner with a private developer to build the toll lanes.
Some municipalities – like Cornelius and Monroe – have already said they will change their vote and support the project again because they don’t want to be penalized.
“Towns that are reversing course on rescinding their support for the I-77 south express lanes aren’t doing so because they suddenly believe the project is worthwhile,” Higdon said in a statement. “They’re doing so under the threat of steep fines and withholding of Powell Bill funds.”
He added: “Just like a regressive tax, those penalties hit the bottom lines of small towns far harder than they hit Charlotte. If Charlotte is truly committed to stopping this project in its current form, it should step up and offer to absorb those fines.”
Higdon declined to say how Matthews would vote at the CRTPO meeting in two weeks.
The proposed I-77 south toll lanes do not pass through Matthews, or Davidson. If those towns and others reject the project, they would have to pay roughly $2 million each.
The Charlotte City Council in May voted 6-5 to pull support from the toll lanes. Council members have been under intense pressure in the last three months to either hold firm and oppose the project or reverse the decision and support the project again.
West side activist Ricky Hall urged CRTPO members in an e-mail last week to support the project. Hall has been working to bring a grocery store to the west side, and the DOT has said the private developer could spend money to bring grocery stories to the area.
“We believe restoring P3 funding for the I-77 represents an important step toward advancing shared regional priorities,” Hall wrote. “At its core, this effort is about investing in the people of Charlotte and the region.”
Charlotte holds more than 40% of the weighted vote on the CRTPO. Mecklenburg County has also opposed the project, as have Davidson and Matthews.
If all four municipalities vote against the toll lanes, the project won’t move forward.
Charlotte City Council members have not discussed publicly the possibility of paying the fines of smaller towns.
Shannon Binns, founder of Sustain Charlotte, called on Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to push the DOT – which Stein leads – for more transparency on the $69.5 million penalty. He said he doesn’t understand how the state spent so much money to reach only a 10% to 15% design level.
“This is the moment for him to hold his agency accountable,” he said.
