CHARLOTTE — A pothole in a northwest Charlotte neighborhood has grown into a major mess for residents. Neighbors say it’s an issue that’s been in the making for decades and repairs would be costly.
Channel 9 first reported on the road’s condition in 2019. Now, what began as a pothole at the intersection of June Furr Road and Hudson Graham Lane has grown to be about 45 feet long and 20 feet wide.
“This road has been like this 20 years,” said Cedric Jackson. “It started escalating small and each year it has gradually gotten bigger.”
Channel 9 learned the street is not in Charlotte city limits, and Mecklenburg County does not maintain roads.
“It was big, so I contacted the city. They told me they weren’t responsible,” Sharon Geter said. “I contacted the county, they told me they weren’t responsible.”
A spokesperson for the city of Charlotte said developers never finished the process to turn the street over to North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The state says neighbors could pay for the repair costs then petition to turn the road over to NCDOT for maintenance.
The city referred Channel 9 to its response from December 2021:
“The road maintenance of Hudson Graham Lane and June Furr Road have been brought to the city’s and the state’s (NCDOT) attention several times over the past five years. We have responded and have seen the road deterioration that exists.
“The problems are that the roads are outside the City of Charlotte limits, and the developers (there were several over the years) never completed the process to turn the roads over to the NCDOT for maintenance. The roads are out of the City of Charlotte’s jurisdiction, so we are not able to do any work there. The NCDOT is also aware of this situation. The homeowners would need to organize and bring the roads up to standard for the NCDOT to consider taking them over for maintenance, or they would need to go through the voluntary annexation process with the City of Charlotte. Annexation doesn’t make the roads within the annexed area city maintained, so the neighborhood would still have to organize to bring the roads up to standard before the city would take them over for maintenance.
“Several residents have contacted CDOT and the NCDOT over the years, and we have explained the issue and the process.”
“It’s crumbling … as you can see, it’s coming down further down the street,” Jackson said.
Neighbors told Channel 9 they are not optimistic about finding a solution. One resident got an estimate for repairs from a contractor for $8,000.
Some neighbors told Channel 9 they tried to get a group together to collect money for the repairs, but only a handful of people were willing to contribute.
(Watch below: Drivers almost never win pothole claims in Mecklenburg County)
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