NCDOT Secretary, Charlotte Mayor announce re-opening of “Community Engagement Center” for I-77 South toll lanes project

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – The Community Engagement Center for the I-77 South toll lanes project is officially back open. That’s because the project is back on track, after leaders across multiple towns and cities flip-flopped on their support over the summer. On Friday, Charlotte’s mayor and the NCDOT Secretary announced the re-opening. The center, on West Morehead Street, is a place where people can give in-person feedback directly to developers.

Secretary Daniel Johnson says, “Part of the reason we have this Community Engagement Center is to kind of work through some of those ideas. The developers will come and, you know, get ideas as well from what the community wants to see. And that’ll, those that feedback from the community will help influence kind of some of the design choices that we make.”

Charlotte Mayor Rob Harrington says, “One of the things we said from the beginning of the process of discussing, getting back into the, the process, was that this project needs to leave the community, not, not just ‘not worse off,’ but needs to leave the community better off.”

They also want your feedback on how to spend the additional $300 million that the chosen developer must invest into the community. Residents can book an appointment at the Center here, or drop-in during open hours.

NCDOT will choose the developer in about a year. Construction on the toll lanes project is not expected to start until 2030.