The Charlotte area’s regional transportation board voted Wednesday to reverse an earlier decision and support the state’s plan to install privately managed toll lanes on an 11-mile stretch of Interstate 77. At an estimated $4.3 billion, it's the most expensive highway project in North Carolina history.
The decision by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization was all but a formality, and the board didn't discuss it in detail on Wednesday. That’s because the Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 on Monday to rescind its own earlier rejection of the project. Charlotte controls nearly half of the 74 votes on the regional transportation board, so once Charlotte flipped, the outcome was determined.
The CRTPO vote means the I-77 project will proceed with environmental analyses, community meetings and formal proposals from developers, before construction begins. The new lanes are projected to open next decade.
"The path here has involved hard conversations, difficult decisions, and deeply held concerns that continue to exist about this project. We must move forward together with accountability from leaders for the commitments that have been made, meaningful collaboration, and dedication to sustained community engagement," said Charlotte mayor Rob Harrington, in a statement after the vote.
The CRTPO vote Wednesday capped a roller-coaster six months. Community members and activists persuaded officials who had already approved the I-77 plan to overturn their approvals. Then a state threat of financial penalties and offer of community benefits induced many of the same officials to reverse their reversals and support the project again.
Chief among them were Charlotte City Council members Malcolm Graham and Joi Mayo. Their council districts include the 11 miles of I-77 from uptown to the South Carolina line, including several historically Black neighborhoods in Graham’s District 2.
Both voted against the project in May. Both flipped their votes Monday. They said the state’s offer — at least $300 million in infrastructure and other benefits for west Charlotte as a condition of support — justified the switch.
The benefits include $150 million for a concrete cap over part of the highway near uptown; $50 million for a new recreation center in the Steele Creek area; and $20 million to nonprofits to build grocery stores on West Boulevard and Statesville Avenue. The city and N.C. Department of Transportation reached a binding agreement on the benefits Tuesday.
While Stein’s administration offered a carrot, Republican legislators passed a provision in the state budget that would require local governments that voted against the project to reimburse the state for $69.5 million in design costs dating back to 2018. If the project was brought back, no one would have to pay.
“A lot has changed since we took that initial vote in May,” Graham said Wednesday morning on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks. The threat of state financial penalties — “the poison pill in the state budget,” he said — was a major factor, as well as the potential of a no vote to jeopardize future highway projects, undermine the city’s AAA bond rating and force the city to raise taxes to pay for the reimbursement.
“Suing the state,” Graham said, “was not an option.”
Also, he added, even if the city had joined Mecklenburg County in voting “no” Wednesday, the two governments probably wouldn’t have had enough votes on the CRTPO to block the project. Other local governments, including Monroe, Cornelius, Huntersville and Davidson, had already announced their plans to vote “yes.”
When finished, two new toll lanes in each direction will run from the South Carolina line to uptown. Motorists can continue to use the heavily congested free lanes.
The DOT has said enough vehicles will use the toll lanes to ease congestion on the free ones. Critics have pointed to the 26 miles of I-77 toll lanes in north Mecklenburg, where traffic is still heavy, especially around Lake Norman.
It’s also unclear how much motorists might have to pay for a one-way trip at rush hour. If the tolls are similar to the I-77 North project, it could cost $20 to $25 to drive the entire segment of the new toll lanes.
It’s possible that a third party could still sue to stop the toll lanes project. The Southern Environmental Law Center has filed lawsuits to stop other projects, including the proposed Garden Parkway in Gaston County and the Monroe Expressway in Union County. The Monroe highway was built; the Garden Parkway was not.
