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Wednesday’s surprise vote could doom controversial I-77 expansion
The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization voted to withdraw approval for the I-77 toll lanes. (Photo: Tony Mecia/The Charlotte Ledger)
by Tony Mecia
In a surprise move, a key regional transportation planning board on Wednesday voted to kill the I-77 toll lane project between uptown and the S.C. line.
The vote by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization, composed of 26 government entities, is a major victory for opponents of the project and could doom it.
Before the vote, the N.C. Department of Transportation had said that the CRTPO’s decision to halt the project would mean it would be removed from state planning documents, and the Charlotte region would lose out on the $600M the state has allocated toward the project, which is estimated to cost at least $3.2B. The money would be redistributed throughout the state, and any plans for I-77 would have to start anew – which could take many years.
The CRTPO’s chairman, Brad Richardson of the Union County town of Stallings, said before the vote that withdrawing support for the I-77 toll lanes would lead to “unknown and uncertain consequences.” He said the vote would be “final [and] perhaps irreversible.”
The panel proceeded with a vote over the advice of its attorney, Mujeeb Shah-Khan, who said that it was improper because the board had previously agreed not to rescind its support at this stage in the process. “I can’t say with any level of certainty what your risk is,” he said.
Asked at the meeting if there would be any chance to salvage some of the project, an NCDOT representative said she “would need to take that question back” to NCDOT leadership “to get more clarity on it.”
Representatives from the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the town of Matthews led the charge to withdraw approval of the project. That push was opposed by representatives of small towns in the Charlotte region, many of whom said they lacked information on how to vote because the process moved so quickly.
Ongoing debate: For the past several months, the debate over the fate of the lanes has intensified, with some activists and neighborhood leaders raising objections to plans to add toll lanes that would lead to the demolition of 36 homes near uptown, as well as increase noise and air pollution. The plans have been in the works since at least 2014 as a means of relieving some of the worst traffic congestion in the city.
Activists and community members showed up in force at Wednesday’s meeting of the regional planning body. (Photo: Tony Mecia/The Charlotte Ledger)
The CRTPO’s vote is the second surprise vote in two weeks to imperil the project — a remarkable and unusual turn of events that seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago. The Charlotte City Council voted 6-5 last week to direct its representative to the CRTPO to rescind approval for the project.
Tony Mecia is The Charlotte Ledger’s executive editor. Reach him at [email protected].