LAKE NORMAN PARKWAY PROJECT: Lake Norman leaders request feedback on parkway planned to parallel I-77

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — Town officials wanted an alternate route for commuters in the Lake Norman area long before anyone was talking about tolls on I-77.

After decades of discussing the possibility of a North-South Parkway, towns along the imagined road have come together, hoping a cohesive effort will help bring the route from North Mecklenburg County to Mooresville to fruition.

Bill Thunberg is the executive director of the Lake Norman Regional Transportation Commission and a representative of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO).

"We've just entered into a process to kind of define the area where the parkway might go," Thunberg told Channel 9.

The North-South Parkway Sub Area Study aims to define an area on the map for the road to run parallel with I-77 and U.S. 115.

It will travel through Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson and Mooresville.

As part of the study, the municipalities are asking the community to take a survey, and voice their concerns about the project.

"This is the point at which the citizens can have the greatest impact with regards to what it's going to look like out there," Thunberg said.

Construction is changing the landscape quickly in the fast-growing communities north of Charlotte, causing congestion along I-77 and other routes.

Driving on I-77 in the Lake Norman area is rarely enjoyable for commercial truck driver Richard Lawhorn.

"It's always a nightmare," Lawhorn said.

At a gas pump in Mooresville Tuesday, Lawhorn told Channel 9 he's driven in the community for about 15 years.

"In the time I've been here, I have seen a lot of countryside disappear and turn in to a lot of different suburbs and subdivisions," Lawhorn said.

Thunberg said transportation leaders are racing developers to get the plans for the parkway on the map, though the physical road is a decade or more from becoming a reality.

"Basically, all we're doing is putting lines on maps that are concepts," Thunberg said. "This is a 15- or 20-year process."

The idea is to help growing communities plan for the future.

Thurnberg told Channel 9 adopting a permanent plan for the North-South Parkway would require future developers to consider the route when building new subdivisions and other projects, and potentially require they help fund and construct the parkway in the communities they develop.

"I probably won't ever get to ride on it," Thurnberg said, jokingly describing the timeline for construction. "But this is the point when [neighbors] can have the greatest impact. We'd love to hear from them."

Neighbors have until Oct. 26 to complete the survey.

The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization hopes to adopt a final plan for the North-South Parkway by May 2019.

The planned route, though years from completion, excites drivers like Lawhorn.

"That would be fantastic," he said. "It would make a lot of people's lives a lot easier, instead of always being stuck in traffic all the time."

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