Residents ask city council to help stop displacement from 77 expansion project

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Residents are pushing back against a more than $3 billion dollar plan to expand toll lanes on Interstate 77. Current maps for the plan show residents in the McCrorey Heights neighborhood will be in the path of the project that will construct a multi-level highway on top of the neighborhood. Now residents and community members are asking city council to do something to stop the displacement.

Shauna Bell first spoke to WCCB back in October when NCDOT released preliminary maps that included new toll express lanes and interchanges to ease congestion along Interstate 77. Her home would be impacted by the project. Now, she joins more than 1300 people who signed a petition urging Charlotte City Council to act fast to ask the state to find another way.

“We have raised current concerns about cost, equity, environmental impact and the history of highway expansion through black neighborhoods,” Shauna Bell said. “The question is not whether something should be done, it’s whether this is the best solution, a solution that felt decided before we ever walked into the room.”

NCDOT has hosted several public sessions and says its still in the planning stages. However, some residents are still feeling unheard and believe history is repeating itself.

“We’re planning to build a segregated highway for the rich on top of historically segregated neighborhoods that were already torn through by the original I-77,” Shariff Hannan said. “Should we be grateful now that instead of destroying homes and digging up graves we’re now getting a double decker monstrosity?”

At one point in the meeting some people chanted, “Stop the expansion”, as they walked out.
Mayor Vi Lyles owns a property on Madison Avenue in the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood but the current maps don’t build over her land.

“We know that this project is led by the Department of Transportation from North Carolina, the city cannot unilaterally delay or stop this project,” Mayor Vi Lyles said. “However, it is important for us, very important for us to get your feedback so that we can take this to the state.”

Council Member Malcolm Graham represents District 2 which encompasses the McCrorey Heights neighborhood. He wants a 60 day pause to reevaluate the plan.

“The clock is ticking. Both proposals, as submitted in October, were awful, and the impact that it had on communities and people,” Councilman Graham said. “NCDOT chose that elevated design after speaking with them for weeks and they didn’t call me, text me, or inform me that they were making a decision.”

NCDOT would start the project in 2030. Residents are counting on city council to help families save their homes before it’s too late.

“Charlotte has a choice, and history is watching, and our legacy will be shaped by whether we choose convenience or courage,” Bell said.

City Council agreed to discuss the 77 expansion project at their retreat Monday, March 2nd. The retreat is open to the public. The mayor requested the State Secretary of Transportation meet with residents to talk about the impacts of the project. That’s scheduled to happen sometime this week.