Lake Norman-area mayor calls votes to kill I-77 South toll lanes ‘shortsighted.’
If Charlotte doesn’t want it, we do, Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney said of some of the $600 million in road money the Queen City gave up when it voted down Interstate 77 South toll lanes.
His town needs $35 million or $40 million from the state for a long-sought, $70 million to $80 million I-77 exit 38 interchange, the mayor said in an exclusive interview with The Charlotte Observer on Friday. The exit is crucial, in part, to moving big rigs through the region from town industrial parks, he said.
“When we talk about exit 38, you’re talking about the biggest names in the country on that corridor: Penske, JR Motorsports, Niagara Bottling, and we have tons coming,” Carney said.
“That was a real setback,” the mayor said about Charlotte’s decision to kill the I-77 South project. He called the move “shortsighted” and said, “I’m really disappointed in them.”
On May 11, the Charlotte City Council voted to cancel its support of the funding agreement for the project. On May 20, the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization revoked its support of the funding agreement.
I-77 South has the state’s worst congestion with over 160,000 cars a day, according to NCDOT. With or without the toll lanes, I-77 will see a 25% increase in traffic by 2050, according to the department.
But the project’s elevated design through uptown neighborhoods near the highway alarmed residents and environmentalists, the Observer reported.
Parks and greenways would have been affected, including the removal of Wilmore Park. Several homes in the Wilmore neighborhood would have been taken through eminent domain.
Letters to the state
Carney said he’s writing Gov. Josh Stein, N.C. Secretary of Transportation Daniel Johnson and the Mooresville area’s delegation of elected officials in Raleigh this week, urging them to keep at least some of the $600 million “in this corridor.”
“If Charlotte decided that they’re OK moving on, then I hope the state will be able to see that those of us who have supported their transportation improvements and what the state’s plan has been, that hopefully we get rewarded with keeping some of that money in the region,” Carney said.
Killing the I-77 South lanes to the South Carolina line was a setback for the region, Carney said, “because it seems like they took what they thought was a victory for a few, but it’s going to impact two, three million people who depend on Charlotte in the region.”
“Whether we all agree or not with the action Charlotte took, we all depend on them,” Carney said. “The airport is a major economic driver. Moving people in and out of Charlotte to work is a major economic driver.”
Full business parks
Mooresville is fortunate, he said, because the town draws as many people to work there as commute to Charlotte.
Many commuters to Charlotte work at banks and other businesses, so Mooresville depends “on those road improvements for the whole region’s economic vitality,” he said. “And if you don’t believe that it works, look at where Mooresville is right now.”
The town’s business parks are full, he said, “and we’re now having private groups come in to build more business parks. It has been a huge shot in the arm for us, to tell people that you have the ability to move people in and out of Mooresville.”
“We never want to be a bedroom community of Charlotte,” Carney said. “We’re always going to try to be an employment center. But there’s no question, companies that come here depend on the resources that we have in Charlotte.
“Whether it’s an executive who wants to have the things that Charlotte offers,” he said. “Whether it be professional sports on the weekend, or the ability to be able to take the family out to the cultural stuff that they offer.”
Carney said the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization board bypassed Mooresville commissioner Will Aven’s recommendation to table a vote on the I-77 South project. Aven represents his town on the board.
The board, whose votes are heavily weighted to the city of Charlotte, voted the I-77 South project down. The board recommends road projects in Mecklenburg, Iredell and Union counties to the state Department of Transportation.
The vote wasn’t on the agenda, and Aven urged more time to discuss the project. He and the state DOT voted against killing the project.
Said Carney: “We should be taking an educated vote, not one that’s been kind of bullied upon us by people who are opposing it, and that to me, that’s the mature way this vote should have happened. Let everybody go back, get their data together, and make a vote that’s educated, not emotional.
“Instead, Will didn’t get any traction with that, and that makes me sad, because I thought he really handled that well for a new member to that board. And the ones who pushed it forward, I feel like they really did a disservice to the region.”