State Says I-77 Tolls Will Happen
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CHARLOTTE, NC — Bad business and a raw deal for taxpayers. That’s what critics call the plan to add toll lanes to I-77.
Local governments have passed several resolutions asking the state to kill the contract, but NCDOT says it’s too late.
“There’s a huge penalty if you do turn the clock backwards,” says Matthews mayor Jim Taylor. “And I’m hearing a hundred million dollars. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s an awful lot of money.”
Mecklenburg County commissioners voted Tuesday for a resolution asking Governor Pat McCrory and the state to terminate the $650 million contract with I-77 Mobility Partners that would allow a Spanish company to install and manage toll lanes on I-77.
“Now that we have more public support, they can’t ignore it anymore,” says North Charlotte resident Chuck Suter. “And we’ve got nine resolutions passed, and zero resolutions have failed.”
The state DOT says canceling the contract would cost $100 million in penalties and a loss of $145 million for other local projects.
But public outrage has only increased since a 50-year clause was revealed in the final contract penalizing the construction of free lanes. Anti-toll activist Chuck Suter says that’s just bad business.
“The tolls go in, it’s going to also hurt business,” says Suter. “There’s a business plan, about 170 local businesses will be heading up to Raleigh to call on the Governor to stop this plan.”
NCDOT sent WCCB Charlotte a statement on the Mecklenburg County resolution that reiterates what the state transportation secretary has said:
“The I-77 Express Lanes project was unanimously approved and requested by the local transportation planning organization.”
Saying the state is simply delivering on that request.
Matthews Mayor Jim Taylor serves on the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization. He says public-private partnership is the only way to deal with traffic woes.
“Managed lanes or no lanes,” says Taylor. “It wasn’t ever a conversation of managed lanes, or toll lanes, or general purpose lanes because that just wasn’t in the mix. The funding wasn’t there. The state didn’t have it, and it wasn’t going to work.”
Construction is set to begin this summer. The project is costing taxpayers $95 million to add 100 lane miles. Tolls could be as high as $20 for a round trip.
The NCDOT and I-77 Mobility Partners have filed separate motions for summary judgment in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, asking for the lawsuit filed by Widen I-77 to be dismissed because there are no grounds to the claims brought by the plaintiff in the case.
