I-77 toll lane opponents cheer new independent state review

North Carolina’s new transportation secretary says his department will conduct an independent review of the contract and project to build toll lanes on Interstate 77 in northern Mecklenburg County.

Secretary James Trogdon told the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization at its Wednesday night meeting that a private firm, unconnected to the controversial project, will be named within a few days to conduct the review.

A final report, including recommendations, is expected by late summer, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said.

The project is well underway and unlikely to be halted, leaving uncertain what a review of the 1,300-page contract at this point could accomplish.

“Sec. Trogdon is part of a new administration, under a new governor, and while we can’t change what happened before, we’re in now and want to take another look at the contract,” DOT spokeswoman Jen Thompson said Thursday. “We will review all aspects of the project, and whatever comes from it, we want to have community input.”

DOT has created a new public comment link as part of the review, but North Mecklenburg residents have hardly been silent on the project. Their widespread objections contributed to the defeat in November of former Gov. Pat McCrory, who was Charlotte’s longtime mayor.

“I regret this has become such a divisive issue in this community during the last three years,” Trogdon told the board, according to his written comments. “We can’t change what got us here, but we can change where we go next.”

Trogdon is a veteran road planner with 25 years of experience in transportation, including jobs at DOT and the General Assembly.

The project will add two express lanes in each direction between uptown Charlotte and Exit 28 in Cornelius. One express lane each way will be added between Cornelius and Exit 36 in Mooresville. The existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the southern part of the project are being converted to express lanes.

DOT contracted with the Spanish firm Cintra to build and operate the project in 2015, and construction started late that year. Former DOT board Chairman Ned Curran of Charlotte said this week that more toll lanes are likely in North Carolina’s future.

But county commissioner Jim Puckett, who represents Mecklenburg County on the transportation planning board, said he’s encouraged by Trogdon’s approach. Puckett and others from northern Mecklenburg met with the new secretary last month.

Puckett views the project as a benefit chiefly to Charlotte, by speeding cars into and out of the city, but says it has ignored the impacts on local congestion – including commercial trucking.

“For me, the only practical outcome is to cancel the contract, negotiate the buyout (with Cintra) and have DOT come up with Plan B,” he said, such as a state-controlled project that adds two new lanes for general-purpose traffic and express buses.

“I think serious people will talk about the issues in the room, and I hold out hope that they will do the right thing. I have more confidence in who’s looking at it now than the people who were looking at it a year ago.”

Woody Washam, mayor pro tem of Cornelius and also a representative of the regional transportation planning board, said he welcomed the new look at the project.

“Since this review is long overdue and something many in my town and in the Lake Norman region have requested for months and even years, I am delighted that it is happening,” he said by email. “I certainly hope it is thorough, upfront, complete and that it is a very public process.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 11:21 AM with the headline "I-77 toll lane opponents cheer new independent state review."