Charlotte City Council is now the decider for I-77 toll lanes

The fight over toll lanes on Interstate 77 now shifts to Charlotte, which holds the deciding vote on whether the controversial project continues.

Gov. Pat McCrory has asked a regional transportation planning organization to vote again on reaffirming or rejecting a long-range plan – a decision that is basically a referendum on the toll lanes.

The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization is expected to vote on the plan, and toll lanes, Jan. 20.

But the key decision will likely happen earlier.

The City Council will likely vote this month on directing its CRPTO member, Vi Lyles, on whether to support or reject the toll lanes. A council committee takes up the issue Monday.

As Lyles votes, so goes CRTPO.

Charlotte has a weighted vote on the organization, holding 31 of 68 votes. Despite intense opposition in north Mecklenburg, the toll lanes will almost certainly move forward if Charlotte votes yes.

The last time there was a vote on the plan, in August, the vote was 54-10. Charlotte was joined by governments such as Matthews, Indian Trail, Marshville, Weddington and Waxhaw in voting for the plan.

Votes in opposition to the motion were cast by representatives of the following jurisdictions: Cornelius, Davidson, Fairview, Iredell County, Marvin, Mecklenburg County and Pineville.

Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy told residents in an email they are in “the fight of our lives” over the toll lanes.

He urged his constituents to lobby council members to vote against the toll lanes, a move he said would “save” the region.

But toll lane opponents face significant hurdles in getting Charlotte council members to change direction.

Here’s why:

▪ As of now, council members aren’t afraid of being voted out of office over the issue. In November’s Huntersville election, candidates seen as either supporting toll lanes or quiet on the project lost – a stunning rebuke to the project.

But there are few voters who live in Charlotte and will be commuting north on I-77, and council members say they haven’t been bombarded about the issue from their own constituents.

But an anti-toll lane group is trying to change that. It delivered a petition to the city before Christmas with 11,000 signatures urging the city to stop the toll lanes.

▪ There is also philosophical bias in favor of toll lanes.

City staff members have been creating the toll lane plan for nearly a decade. And some council members say privately they believe people commuting in cars should pay a greater share of their commute, just as transit users do.

There also is a cultural difference between Charlotte council members and the opposition.

The City Council has a 9-2 Democratic majority. Much of the opposition to the toll lanes stems from north Mecklenburg residents, many of whom are wealthier and more conservative than their city constituents.

In November, two Republican state lawmakers held a toll lane “summit” meeting with the state at Cornelius Town Hall.

No one from Charlotte attended.

▪ The N.C. DOT has also said canceling the toll lane project could cost the state up to $100 million in penalties, a figure toll lane opponents say is inflated.

State officials also said there are consequences to CRTPO removing the toll lanes from the region’s long-term transportation plan. Dropping the toll lane project would force local planners to study how the project’s removal would impact the region’s fair quality.

In the summer, when CRTPO voted to approve the long-range plan, members said it was too late to remove the toll lanes.

The DOT has also said it’s unclear when it could build free lanes on I-77 if the toll lane project is killed.

But the state also hasn’t given a hypothetical score to widening the highway from exit 23 to exit 30 – a project that would give significant relief, at least for a decade.

Toll lane opponents want CRTPO to ask for the state to score that project.

The council’s transportation committee will likely discuss the issue first, on Monday.

From there, it could go to the full council, which has 11 members. Six votes are needed to approve or reject the toll lanes and transportation plan.

Mayor Jennifer Roberts doesn’t have a vote.

She has said she opposes the toll lanes because of the 50-year noncompete clause with the private developer, which would likely cause taxpayers to provide compensation if it builds new free lanes. But Roberts hasn’t made any moves to stop the project.

The council’s two Republicans, Kenny Smith and Ed Driggs, have been skeptical of the toll lane project in the past.

They said this week they are still meeting with both sides.

Democrat Claire Fallon, an at-large member, said she’s leaning toward voting against the toll lanes.

“It’s a very long contract and (Spanish developer Cintra) doesn’t have a very good reputation,” she said. “Why would we pick a foreign company? Why won’t the money stay here?”

Democrat Julie Eiselt, an at-large member who was elected in November, said she has concerns about the project. But she won’t commit to voting against it.

“I am trying to understand what it really does to congestion, having the toll road,” she said. “I don’t know that it will help congestion. What will nag me the most is knowing the cost of canceling versus the cost of what do you do about 77.”

She said that adding a free lane may not make sense.

“I do believe that in the notion, that once you put the lane in, it will just fill up,” she said. “That’s where I struggle with.”

Toll lane critics agree that any new free lane will eventually fill up.

State Sen. Jeff Tarte, a Cornelius Republican, said that shouldn’t preclude new highway construction. He said it’s akin to never taking a bath because you will just get dirty again.

Democratic council member Patsy Kinsey said she “doesn’t like the idea of a toll road.”

“But there is a lot of history,” she said. “There is more to it than just not wanting a toll road.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Charlotte City Council is now the decider for I-77 toll lanes."