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The state's plan to begin work on Interstate 485 this year calls for a contractor to finance part of the construction costs and may also take money from other N.C. loop projects.
Gov. Bev Perdue announced Monday that construction on the last piece of the outerbelt will begin next year, five years ahead of the current schedule. That thrilled local officials, who have clamored for the N.C. Department of Transportation to finish the last five-mile segment of Charlotte's loop.
"(Perdue) inherited a plan that called for construction to begin in 2015, and she has a plan that may finish the road by 2015," said Charlotte Chamber president Bob Morgan. "She has convinced me that she genuinely cares that Charlotte is an economic engine for the rest of the state."
The DOT's plan calls for a contractor to pay for $50 million in construction costs and for the state to pay the builder back over 10 years. Perdue and other officials said repeatedly that the financing plan would mean that no other project statewide would be delayed or scrapped to pay for Charlotte's loop.
But the DOT's chief financial officer said the department is "prioritizing" some projects statewide, such as I-485. By making Charlotte's outerbelt a priority, it may push back other urban loops such as Fayetteville's I-295.
The unfinished five-mile segment of Charlotte's outerbelt will connect N.C. 115 with I-85 at Concord Mills. It will be built with eight lanes total, and is expected to be one of the busiest segments on the 65-mile loop, carrying at least 130,000 cars a day by 2030.
Construction began on I-485 in July 1988.
In February, Perdue pledged to start construction on the last five-mile segment of I-485 this year - an announcement that was met with skepticism due to the recession weakening DOT's coffers.
At the time, the DOT estimated that finishing the last five-mile piece of I-485 would cost roughly $220 million. The DOT then said the only way to build the project early would be to take money from another high-profile Charlotte project, such as the conversion of Independence Boulevard to an expressway. Local transportation officials rejected that option.
Since then, the cost of finishing I-485 has grown to $340 million, due to the state expanding the size of the interchange with Interstate 85 near Concord Mills to handle more traffic. That interchange would have soaring bridges - similar to those at the I-485 and I-77 interchange in south Charlotte.
Though the project has grown in cost by more than 50 percent, the DOT said Monday it can pay for the project with the new financing plan.
The state would have $290 million for the project - more than the cost of the estimate earlier this spring, when the DOT said it couldn't afford it.
Charlotte's outerbelt and other loops are paid for by a special pot of money, known as the urban loop fund. Some Charlotteans have complained that there wasn't a cost-benefit analysis to deciding when highways are built, allowing loops in smaller cities with less traffic to move forward before I-485 was finished.
One project that rankled Charlotteans was Fayetteville's I-295 loop, which was postponed due to a lack of money. Part of the project is being paid for with roughly $50 million in stimulus funds, but the DOT hasn't decided when to construct the rest.
"We're waiting on the DOT's prioritization process," said division engineer Greg Burns in Fayetteville.
Fayetteville has pushed for its outerbelt to improve access to Fort Bragg. But that outerbelt is projected to handle far less traffic than Charlotte's.
The state plans to begin construction on the last segment of I-485 in late 2010. Work in the interchange would begin in spring 2011. The work would also coincide with a planned widening of I-85 in Cabarrus County to eight lanes, which will cost $200 million. The highway will be widening from Bruton Smith Boulevard to N.C. 73.
There haven't been any changes to the widening of I-485 in south Charlotte, which isn't scheduled until 2015, at the earliest.
N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said his office has talked with contractors, who have said they could finance part of the project themselves. Conti said he thinks construction companies could get financing, if the loan were backed by the government.
If the state's unusual financing plan works, the project still faces another hurdle: The city and state must show the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that its road-building plans will help clean the air. Charlotte's problem is with ground-level ozone, or smog, a pollutant that causes wheezing, coughing and chest pain.
Charlotte has had one of the nation's worst ozone problems, though this past summer the air was relatively clean due in part to favorable weather.
To build 485, Charlotte must show the EPA that the new highway won't produce too much air pollution. Conti said he's confident the highway will pass muster.
David Farren, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said he fears Charlotte will "ram through" 485 without properly analyzing how it will impact air quality.
