CRTPO weighs possibility of paying $60M penalty for rescinding 77 toll lanes support
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Leaders are facing a new deadline for the I-77 toll lanes project. Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and Matthews want time to explore other ideas to relieve traffic congestion, but the state wants municipalities who are against the project to pay back $60 million dollars by October 5th.
Bumper to bumper traffic on 77 South still delays drivers. The State Department of Transportation wants to build toll lanes stretching from the SC state line to Uptown Charlotte.
After push back from the community about land use and overall feasibility, the plan was nixed by a vote in the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
The state budget says any municipality that voted against it will have to pay back the states $60 million dollar investment.
“They’re asking us to pay it back we have not seen any line item list at all,” Mayor John Higdon from Matthews said. “I’d like to know where the where that number came from.”
Matthews, Charlotte, and Mecklenburg County were among the municipalities that voted no.
Instead they’d like to have time to study alternative to traffic reduction.
“We can have an honest disagreement about what toll roads do and how best to handle I-77, but that’s a different conversation than a power grab by the General Assembly to a county and a city and towns,” Commissioner Leigh Altman from Mecklenburg County said.
The state is giving CRTPO until October 5th to avoid paying what some consider to be a fine.
“This is not a fine. You have a body that said, “Go ahead and do something. Now you say, “Don’t do it. That’s a very important change of heart that I think would not augur well for this body,” David Rosenberg from NCDOT said.
The municipalities against toll lanes say 77 north has shown express lanes wont reduce traffic.
“They’re charging predatory toll rates, and I think they’re going to do it again if they come here. Why repeat the same error? It’s not been a solution. It’s underutilized and won’t address congestion,” Mayor Higdon said.
The City of Charlotte is leading the charge to hire a third party to explore alternative options but they don’t believe it will be done by the October 5th deadline. CRTPO will vote in September again on support for the toll lanes.
