Charlotte’s westside pushes back on I-77 toll lane expansion
Preliminary designs show potential impacts on Pinewood Cemetery and homes in McCrorey Heights, Biddleville and beyond
The following article appeared in the November 12, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
As NCDOT advances plans for I-77 South express lanes, westside neighbors call for a redesign—and a reckoning with how infrastructure has reshaped their communities
On Charlotte’s westside, word of the I-77 South express lanes project’s preliminary design has sparked a fast-building coalition — residents, neighborhood groups and advocates who say they’ve seen this story before and are determined it won’t play out the same way again.
The N.C. Department of Transportation, at the request of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization, is planning an approximately 11-mile expansion of Interstate 77 from the Brookshire Freeway south toward the South Carolina border, adding express toll lanes alongside existing travel lanes. The project is estimated to cost around $3.2B, which would make it one of the largest transportation projects in state history.
The proposed design, released in October, includes some crossover into Charlotte’s historically Black and Brown neighborhoods and community spaces.
“I’m confident we can stop this,” said Shannon Binns of Sustain Charlotte, who is helping coordinate a coalition of neighborhood groups along the project’s corridor.