Leadership lacking on I-77 tolls
Will construction start Monday on Interstate 77’s controversial toll lanes through the Lake Norman area? Or will surging voter anger – and politicians’ concern for their own hides – finally stop it?
That’s hard to say, even after four lawmakers signed a letter on Friday asking that Gov. McCrory cancel the project. McCrory said he couldn’t, since he didn’t request the toll lanes – a regional transportation planning group did.
His response isn’t surprising. Lake Norman folks want the toll lanes killed, but they also want free ones built. That would likely tick off other road-seeking regions across the state. For now, McCrory is willing to tick off north Mecklenburg.
One thing is clear: We wouldn’t have this mess on our hands if the region’s leaders had done a better job of reading the fine print on the $655 million deal and telling citizens exactly what the 26-mile project would mean to them.
The N.C. Department of Transportation has spent years assembling this deal, but some of the biggest criticisms gained traction late in the game – everything from the specter of potential $20 tolls to the fact that the deal could keep the state from building free lanes in the corridor for 50 years.
Now Sens. Jeff Tarte of Cornelius and David Curtis of Lincolnton, as well as Reps. Charles Jeter and John Bradford of Cornelius, have written the letter asking McCrory to kill the project.
The four Republicans, like other politicians in the region, have done a lousy job of leading on this issue. Three of them were actually for toll roads (in general) before they were against this one (specifically). All but Bradford (who wasn’t in office then) voted for the 2013 law that allowed the DOT to forge toll road partnerships with private firms like Cintra, the Spanish company overseeing the I-77 project.
Considering the beating Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain and other toll lanes supporters took in the last election, the letter writers don’t exactly come off as bold visionaries. “This is a prime example of elected officials running scared,” Swain told the editorial board Friday.
Or, reflecting the will of the people. Given north Mecklenburg’s worsening congestion, residents have good reason to wonder just how effective the toll lanes will be, what the tolls will actually cost, and whether they’ll be stuck with the wrong solution for the next 50 years.
But is it a bad enough deal to warrant forking over as much as $100 million in break-up fees? How can free lanes be built instead – and soon – without prompting opposition from other regions in line for them?
Toll opponents’ concerns are valid, but so are these two questions. Until someone supplies real answers, press conferences and letters and lawsuit threats won’t block anything – except perhaps the next drubbing at the polls for a Lake Norman incumbent.
This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Leadership lacking on I-77 tolls."