BREAKING: City Council votes to back I-77 toll lanes

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by Ashley Fahey

In a 7-4 vote, Charlotte City Council voted to support the Interstate 77 South toll lanes project, a reversal from a decision four months earlier that nixed support amid fierce backlash from neighborhood groups adjacent to the highway.

Council members Malcolm Graham and Joi Mayo, both of whom in May voted against the project, voted to support it on Monday.

Graham said a “legally binding document” tied to $300M in community benefits, including commitments to protect homeowners and small business owners displaced by the project, that’s been put forth by the N.C. Department of Transportation was why he changed his stance. He said the agreement will be signed Tuesday.

“This is change,” he said, holding up a document. “This is a marathon, not a sprint, that won’t be resolved tonight.”

“Sometimes you fight, sometimes you negotiate,” Graham later added.

Graham also alluded to other matters the city requires state cooperation and funding on, including the airport.

The vote was frequently raucous, with several members of the public escorted out of the chamber by police officers after they shouted several times during council members’ remarks, following warnings by Mayor Rob Harrington.

“You’ll never be mayor, Graham!” one person yelled.

Mayo in her remarks said one reason she is voting for the project is that 17 out of 22 bridges will be redesigned — that redesign is “so impactful.” She said eight of the 11 miles in the expansion are in her district.

“Today, there’s a much clearer opportunity to shape what this investment can mean for people actually living along this corridor,” Mayo said, adding there is more work to do.

Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell, along with council members Graham, Mayo, Dimple Ajmera, Dante Anderson, Ed Driggs and Kimberly Owens, voted to reinstate support for the N.C. Department of Transportation’s public-private partnership funding model for the toll lanes. Council members Renee Johnson, LaWana Mayfield, J.D. Mazuera Arias and Victoria Watlington voted against the measure.

Before the approval, a substitute motion by council member Mayfield to deny support for the project failed along the same lines, which prompted loud boos and chants of “No more tolls!” from the audience.

The move was widely expected after the state threatened tens of millions of dollars in fines unless the vote was reversed, with NCDOT saying earlier this month that the penalty would total $69.5M between the local governments that voted it down. To garner support, the NCDOT offered $300M in “community benefits” for nearby neighborhoods, which opponents have said isn’t enough to offset ripple effects from the project itself.

Council members who voted against the project on Monday said they couldn’t support it with so much community opposition to the project, as well as the right for Charlotte to “govern itself” and not bow to state legislature pressure, as Mazuera Arias said.

Johnson said she had questions about the legality and constitutionality of the $70M penalty. “We deserve clear answers,” she said.

Next up, the Charlotte Regional Transportation and Planning Organization (CRTPO) is expected on Wednesday to vote again on the I-77 South toll lanes. It, too, voted to halt support for the project in May.

The city holds about 41% of the CRTPO vote, and several municipalities that previously voted to pull support for the project have also since reversed course. That means, with tonight’s vote by the council, there should be enough votes for CRTPO to vote in favor of the project. That would put a plan to add two toll lanes in each direction on the 11-mile stretch of I-77 between uptown and South Carolina back on track.

At Monday’s meeting, about 50 people spoke during a public hearing about the I-77 toll lanes, with about 14 in favor and 36 against.

Allen Dargins, chair of the Real Estate Building and Industry Coalition, spoke in support of the project, highlighting the community benefits and the need to address congestion as Charlotte continues to grow. “Opportunities for projects like this are rare,” Dargins said.

Several supporters highlighted the community benefits, but acknowledged that more collaboration with community members needs to take place even with a “yes” vote. Commitments to the community must be “clear, binding and accountable,” said Stacy Gray, who spoke in support of the project.

Most opponents questioned how public benefits would be spent, with some calling it a bribe to get Monday’s reversal, and several specifically called out Graham and Mayo for flipping their stance.

“What has changed about the project?” said the Rev. Dr. Janet Garner Mullins. “What has changed has been the pressure put on council and local government to reconsider their decision based upon, we don’t know, but we know that public opinion and input has already been taken. We all want safe roads, less congestion and better transportation, but we must ask ourselves: at what cost?”

Neighborhood leaders, including Sean Langley of the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood Association and Rebekah Taff of the Wilmore Neighborhood Association, spoke against the project because of the harm they feel the project will create for their communities.

The 6-5 vote by council in May, which came as a surprise, came after months of dissent and vocal opposition from neighborhoods, especially on Charlotte’s west side, because of concerns that the project would require homes to be razed and create quality-of-life concerns like noise and air pollution. The proposal has reopened wounds from previous highway expansion projects in Charlotte that disconnected and displaced majority-Black communities.

Ashley Fahey is The Ledger’s managing editor. Reach her at [email protected].