Charlotte calls for pause on ‘irreversible’ I-77 actions in draft resolution on tolls
The Charlotte City Council intends to ask the North Carolina Department of Transportation to pause any “irreversible actions” on the Interstate 77 toll lanes project until the department satisfies a list of its requests, according to a draft resolution circulated to council members on Monday.
The sweeping resolution, provided to The Charlotte Observer through a public records request, asks the department to redo its design analysis with a focus on displacement patterns and community benefits. Variables such as traffic volume shifts, routes, toll pricing and socioeconomic data should all be reanalyzed, the resolution asks.
Under the resolution, which is still subject to change and hasn’t been formally approved, Charlotte would withhold its support from any final tolling or contract authorizations until its conditions are met.
NCDOT seeks to add toll lanes to an 11-mile stretch of I-77 from uptown to the South Carolina border. The project is estimated to cost more than $4 billion, according to the resolution, which is more than the previously reported $3.2 billion estimate.
Charlotte previously gave approval to the project through its seat on the regional transportation board.
As NCDOT revealed more details about its design plans, residents and elected officials alike “have become increasingly concerned about the scale and permanence of potential displacement of homes and businesses, impacts to parks and greenways, noise, air quality, construction disruption, and long-term neighborhood stability,” the resolution states.
“The City Council finds that proceeding without additional analysis and community-driven dialogue risks irreversible harm and forecloses potentially better solutions,” the resolution states.
Response to the draft I-77 resolution
A few council members made brief references to the resolution on Monday, when Mayor Vi Lyles announced she would add it as a discussion item to the May 11 agenda.
District 7 councilman Ed Driggs — routinely the lone voice against the city opposing the project now — offered support for passing the resolution. Community members are pressuring the City Council to rescind support altogether, Driggs said, but the resolution allows council to try other avenues first.
If all else fails, the City Council can rescind its support later, he said.
“I believe the resolution, that I appreciate, is a powerful statement of our concern for our constituents and our values, and it will be a foundation for future conversations. But we must have those conversations,” Driggs said. “Let’s make clear where we stand, hold NCDOT accountable. I know that one of the reasons we’re in this predicament is because the NCDOT didn’t really handle this very well.”
Kimberly Owens, who represents District 6, said she conducted a listening tour this month with residents in south Charlotte. They’ve fallen into two buckets.
“Either they don’t trust the I-77 south project, or they really don’t trust the I-77 project,” Owens said.
Residents question whether the project is worth 50 years of toll revenue and further exposure to pay-by-mail scammers, and whether it addresses congestion, Owens said.
Councilwoman Joi Mayo, whose District 3 in west Charlotte encompasses most of the impacted area, said the resolution was “a good first step.” She hopes the community will back it, too.
Sustain Charlotte is one of the community groups that has led opposition against I-77. Shannon Binns, the nonprofit organization’s founder and executive director, said he also thinks the resolution is a step in the right direction. Still, it could go even further by calling for an independent evaluation of alternatives, he said.
“With a few targeted improvements, Council has an opportunity to ensure a process that builds public trust and leads to the best possible outcome for our community,” Binns said in a written statement to the Observer.
A refresher on the I-77 debate
In response to pressure, NCDOT opened a community engagement center in March to collect additional feedback and delayed the next step in its process until June. The agency was supposed to issue requests for proposals to four finalist companies in March, which would have invited them to create a construction plan.
At the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization, or CRTPO, meeting in March, members continued voicing their disapproval of the designs. But it’s still unclear if the board can legally dissolve the agreement with NCDOT.
CRTPO, in 2024, agreed to fund the project through a mixture of public and private money. Designs weren’t presented until last year, months after CRTPO could back out of the funding agreement.
Driggs represents Charlotte on the CRTPO. He said he believed there’s “no legal brick wall” that could stop the transportation board from quashing the project. For months Mecklenburg Commissioner and board member Leigh Altman has said the same thing.
But N.C. Board of Transportation at-large member Stephen Rosenburgh said that action would have consequences.
The state has already spent $50 million on the project, according to Rosenburgh. If officials back out now, he said the NCDOT board will question whether it should support other projects for the Charlotte area in the future.
Desiree Mathurin contributed to the reporting of this story.
