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Matthews, Davidson mayors resign from panel in protest after 64-5 vote moves controversial project forward
The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization approved the I-77 toll lane project on Wednesday, the final political step for it moving ahead. (Screen shot of meeting)
by Tony Mecia
Over objections that the state government was forcing its hand, a key regional planning board approved moving forward with the I-77 toll lane project on Wednesday.
Following the city of Charlotte’s decision Monday to reverse course and support the project, Wednesday’s vote of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization was all but a formality. The measure to proceed passed by a vote of 64-5, with larger entities like Charlotte having more weighted votes.
Mecklenburg County and Matthews were the lone “no” votes.
The same panel had voted in May to halt the project. But the state threatened fines, and the N.C. Department of Transportation offered money to help improve neighborhoods near uptown affected by the widening.
Wednesday’s vote brings to an end months of politival wrangling over what would happen. And it ensures the toll lane project will move ahead, over the objections of some residents and activists who opposed the project, which will add two toll lanes in each direction on an 11-mile stretch between uptown and the South Carolina line.
After the vote, Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox and Matthews Mayor John Higdon said they are resigning from the panel, after being frustrated that the General Assembly approved a measure, signed by Gov. Josh Stein, that threatened tens of millions in fines unless the panel switched courses and put the toll lanes back on track.
Knox, who voted “under duress, yes,” said he feared the toll project would be a repeat of the I-77 lanes near Davidson, which he said have not solved congestion.
“I-77 North has failed our residents and our state, but it is rich for a Spanish contractor,” he said, referring to Cintra, the private company that operates the lanes and is interested in the I-77 South project.
Higdon said he objected not only to heavy handedness from Raleigh but from the capitulation to “powerful business interests who have a financial stake in having this toll project move forward regardless of the communities that have to live with it.”
“Somewhere tonight, champagne glasses will be filled, cigars lit and caviar devoured, all at our expense,” Higdon said. “’Here’s to outrageous tolls and profits for decades – they fell for it again.’”
Charlotte City Council member Ed Driggs, who voted in favor of the plan on Charlotte’s behalf, said the investments in communities in the I-77 corridor are substantial. The state has promised at least $300 million to improve the area.
“I don’t appreciate being accused of having chickened out and thereby abandoned the better interests of my constituents,” Driggs said.
Rejecting arguments that the community benefits are meager, Driggs said: “Is it better than nothing? $300 million? I’d say that it is.”
The N.C. Department of Transportation will continue planning and design work on the project, in conjunction with private firms. It has said construction is likely to start in the early 2030s.
Tony Mecia is The Ledger’s executive editor. Reach him at [email protected].