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With an ultimatum from the state, city leaders must decide whether to fold or fight
Plans to expand and add toll lanes to Interstate 77 from uptown to the South Carolina line have been controversial since a proposal was unveiled by the N.C. Department of Transportation in the fall. (Image courtesy of Google Maps)
by Steve Harrison/WFAE
The controversy over the proposed toll lane on Interstate 77 in south Charlotte has been raging for seven months.
And it’s far from over.
The new Republican-written state budget includes a provision meant to get the toll lanes back on track. If Charlotte and other local governments don’t back the toll lanes again, they could have to repay the N.C. Department of Transportation for money spent so far on the project. The DOT has said that’s $64M.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed the budget last week, and Charlotte is now on the clock. The city has 90 days to rescind its rescission of the toll lanes — or else be at risk of paying the penalty.
The chair of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) board announced Wednesday that the organization would take another vote on I-77 toll lanes in late September, ahead of the legislature’s October deadline.
This issue of Charlotte in Motion will look at Charlotte’s options moving forward.
Option 1: Acquiesce
The Charlotte City Council, Mecklenburg County, Matthews and Davidson (and others) have fought a spirited fight against the $4B toll lanes, which don’t have broad support across the county. They responded to the concerns of historically Black communities near uptown that would be impacted by the project, and the DOT has proposed some public benefits — like a cap over part of the highway, which could be turned into a park.
But the business community, with allies in the General Assembly, has put Charlotte in a corner. Faced with the reality of having to pay the $64M penalty, Charlotte and others can vote to back the toll lanes again and hope the DOT keeps tweaking the project to make it less impactful for nearby residents.
This is the safe option. And it would provide the fastest relief for I-77 motorists, though it’s debatable whether building toll lanes is the most effective way to reduce congestion.
Charlotte City Council member Ed Driggs, a toll lane supporter and the city’s representative on the CRTPO board, urged his colleagues on the CRTPO to reconsider Wednesday.
“The stakes are very high here,” Driggs said, according to the Charlotte Business Journal. “I personally have made the point that I think it’s critical that we do something on I-77, so we don’t want to abandon the project lightly. And I would say that there are conversations going on to see whether the opponents of the project can agree to a process that would allow the project to move forward.”
The Charlotte City Council would first have to vote to support the project before Driggs could formally support it again.
But while backing the toll lanes would please the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, it would anger the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. And it could frustrate thousands of motorists daily if the toll lanes do not meaningfully reduce congestion.
That's what has happened on the I-77 toll lanes in north Mecklenburg.
Option 2: Keep fighting
There are several paths forward here.
Pressure Stein
The budget provision on I-77 requires local governments to pay back the state if they vote to remove a project unilaterally from its Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP), or prevent the project from being delivered or funded in the manner originally programmed in the MTIP.
It also defines a unilateral action as something “not required by federal law, court order, or formal written direction of the Department.”
It then requires the Department of Transportation to determine whether an action was unilateral or not.
Will the Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners lobby Stein — who runs the DOT — to declare his department supports the decision? Under that scenario, Stein would say that he supports a decision to remove the privately funded toll lanes from the Transportation Improvement Program and direct the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization to do that.
Stein is arguably the ultimate decider of whether the toll lanes move forward. But when the media has asked about the controversy over I-77, Stein has acted as a bystander.
“I want there to be rational, smart investments in infrastructure here in Mecklenburg County. That’s why I supported the sales tax in order to help the region address and get ahead of the traffic needs,” he said in June. “And I’m just hopeful that the broader community in Charlotte can come together around a plan that makes sense.”
That statement is unusual in that the broader Charlotte community has already decided what it wants to do about toll lanes. And the DOT — which Stein heads — has not offered any significant alternative other than building 44 lane miles from uptown to the South Carolina line.
Just pay the money back
The original language about I-77 prohibited Charlotte and others from using money from the recently passed 1-cent transportation sales to repay the DOT for design costs incurred on the toll lanes.
That was removed from the final budget bill.
Sixty-four million dollars is a lot of money — a little more than 6% of Charlotte's general fund budget for the current fiscal year. But it’s also a one-time expense.
The City Council could pull money from part of the new transportation sales tax dedicated to roads. That tax will generate roughly $110M for Charlotte for roads this year and nearly $8B over the next 30 years. Siphoning off $64M would represent less than 1% of that 30-year total and would merely delay — not cancel — one or two planned projects.
New Charlotte Mayor Rob Harrington has been non-committal about what he thinks City Council should do.
Litigate
The General Assembly’s requirement that Charlotte and others repay the money spent designing the toll lanes is apparently a first in the state.
CRTPO is required by the federal government to approve major projects. The federal government requires the CRTPO (and other Metropolitan Planning Organizations) to engage in what’s known as a “3-C” process: Continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning.
Charlotte could argue in federal court that the punitive legislation undermines the idea of a cooperative process in that it’s pushing the MPO to rubber-stamp DOT proposals.
The City Council doesn't have a regularly scheduled meeting until August. The clock is ticking.
Steve Harrison is a reporter with WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR news source. Reach him at [email protected].
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In brief
Plaza Midwood neighborhood wants to reconsider terms of bike lane planters: Cars have destroyed one-third of the roughly 70 planters the city installed along a one-mile stretch of The Plaza’s bike lanes in 2020. The Plaza Midwood Neighborhood Association initially agreed to pay for long-term maintenance if the city bought the planters and covered the first year of expenses, but now, neighborhood leaders say, the costs of upkeep and replacement have become more than anybody anticipated. (Charlotte Observer)
Low-income customers of Duke Energy set to lose benefit: The Duke Energy Customer Assistance pilot program, which gave income-eligible households a $42 monthly credit toward their energy bills, will conclude at the end of this year. More than 77,000 utility customers have participated in the program, which would end around the same time as proposed rate hikes by the utility for residential customers. (WFAE)
More funding approved for Gaston schools: Gaston County commissioners voted Tuesday to provide an additional $5M to Gaston County Schools, weeks after approving a flat budget for the district. The new funding package includes $2.1M to increase the local teacher supplement, as well as additional money to match state raises for locally funded employees. In March, Superintendent Morgen Houchard asked the county for a $10M bailout to shore up a budget shortfall and save up to 400 jobs. (WFAE)
Data center meeting process draws backlash: A focus group to determine potential next steps for data centers in Charlotte amid the city’s 150-day moratorium was scheduled to meet last week without the knowledge of several Charlotte City Council members and community leaders who’ve spoken about data centers in public meetings. In an email chain shared with the Observer, council members told top city officials they were disappointed by the process and felt the city lacked clear internal procedures. A statement from the city said last week that city staff will be “pausing some data center moratorium activity to reassess the current process and community engagement approach.” (Charlotte Observer)
North Carolina falls in business ranking: North Carolina, which was crowned the No. 1 state to do business in last year by CNBC, was dethroned by Ohio in this year’s ranking, falling to the No. 2 spot. The Tar Heel State lost points in categories involving affordability, crime and worker protections. North Carolina slipped in the cost-of-living category from 23 to 35 among all states. (Axios Charlotte)