I-77 South toll lane plans may return despite previous rejection

CHARLOTTE — Plans for toll lanes on Interstate 77 South may not be over.

Charlotte-area leaders pulled support for the lanes two months ago, effectively ending the project.

Leaders now want to have a re-vote, which could bring it back to life.

This all comes down to millions of dollars that would have to be paid back.

There will be one more vote ahead of the state budget’s imposed deadline.

The communities that voted to kill the project will be on the hook for costs.

The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization scheduled that vote for Sept. 23. That’s ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline. Any community opposed to the toll lane project, at that point, will have to team up to pay more than $60 million back to the state because that’s how much has been spent on the controversial project so far.

What Charlotte City Council decides will ultimately determine if the project goes forward or dies

Charlotte City Council voted, 6-5, to pull its support for the project.

However, Councilman Ed Driggs, R-District 7, said there are talks behind the scenes about bringing it back.

“I think it’s critical that we do something on I-77, so we don’t want to abandon the project lightly, and I would say that there are conversations going on to see whether the opponents of the project can agree to a process that would allow the project to move forward and not lock in something that they really won’t accept.”

It’s unclear when Charlotte City Council will discuss this. The nonprofit Sustain Charlotte is urging city leaders to stand strong and “not be driven by political threats.”

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