‘A big day for our city.’ I-485 toll lanes set to open in south Charlotte.
At 6 a.m. Saturday, drivers on one of Charlotte’s most congested interstate stretches can breeze along 18 miles of toll lanes.
“This is a big day for our city,” Mayor Vi Lyles said at a ceremonial ribbon-cutting Friday to celebrate the opening of the $346 million lanes on Interstate 485, one in each direction between I-77 and Independence Boulevard (U.S. 74).
The project also added a free I-485 lane in each direction between Rea Road and Providence Road, a new interchange at Weddington Road, improvements at the East John Street interchange in Matthews and a wider bridge taking Ballantyne Commons Parkway over I-485. “Everything we do in terms of our roads ... we’re supporting businesses, we’re supporting education, we’re supporting people in this community,” Lyles said at The Ballantyne Hotel before city leaders joined state highway officials and media for a sneak-peek ride in the lanes.
“Reliable travel time”
Work started in 2019 to add a toll, or “express” lane in each direction along the stretch.
A 2007 Fast Lanes study identified the need for managed lanes in the corridor and others in the Charlotte region, said Brett Canipe, western deputy chief engineer for the state Department of Transportation.
Some work will continue into spring before the project is finally complete, officials said.
“We’re all very familiar with the traffic challenges, and the intent of this project is to alleviate the traffic congestion,” Canipe said. “The express lanes are going to provide a reliable travel time option for folks to take.”
“It’s a choice lane for people to use it,” J.J. Eden, executive director of the N.C. Turnpike Authority, told The Charlotte Observer at the ceremony. “If traffic wasn’t backed up (on the free lanes), would I use it? Probably not, right?”
If you must get to your doctor, are late for work or need to pick up your children at daycare, “that’s when you might want to use it,” he said.
The I-77/I-485 South intersection ranked 44th worst in the U.S. for truck bottlenecks, according to an annual study released this month by the American Transportation Research Institute, based in Washington, D.C.
Toll rates
At least 150,000 drivers a day used the I-485 stretch in 2020, and the count has likely climbed with the population, NCDOT spokeswoman Jen Goodwin said.
Toll rates will be determined at first by vehicle length, time of day and the day of the week, officials said.
Transactions will be reviewed the first few weeks to ensure accuracy and, within a year, shift to “dynamic pricing,” where rates change based on traffic, average speed and other factors, highway officials said. Dynamic pricing aims to ensure that traffic in the toll lanes maintains a minimum speed of 45 mph, officials said.
Toll rates can be calculated on the NC Quick Pass website.
An NC Quick Pass account will help drivers save 50% on tolls, the state says.
“We want to get up and down”
The I-485 toll lanes have seen zero opposition, said Stephen Rosenburgh, NCDOT board member, Ballantyne resident and former chair of the advocacy group South Charlotte Partners.
That’s unlike the years-long heated opposition to the Interstate 77 toll lanes from Charlotte to Lake Norman and now the ones planned on I-77 from uptown to South Carolina.
“Six years ago, we petitioned the governor and the secretary of transportation to build this road,” Rosenburgh said, referring to the I-485 toll lanes. “Other people may have complained about toll roads. We love them here in south Charlotte.”
“We want to be able to get up and down,” he said. “We want to reduce pollution. We want to do all the good things this world allows.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 3:28 PM.