Editor’s Note: The below piece is the sole opinion of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Y’all Weekly or its publisher.
In the face of financial and political pressure from state government, Charlotte City Council is reconsidering their approach to the Interstate 77 toll lanes project with a vote scheduled for next week.
The clock is ticking as Vickie Sawyer, Republican state senator representing part of Mecklenburg County, passed legislation to financially punish municipalities that remain opposed to the plan.
With a price tag over $4 billion, the city owes it to taxpayers to get it right. It is a generational decision that will affect the community for decades.
With that in mind, the city council should consider the project on its merits before making a decision under duress. Before the vote, council members should ask themselves: “does this project create an asset with lasting worth to our community?”
How We Got Here
The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO), a transportation planning organization that includes Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, originally voted against the project due to significant opposition from the community. Many thought that vote would have killed the project in its current form and ended the debate, but CRTPO will now reconsider the toll lanes vote at a meeting next week in order to meet a deadline imposed by Sawyer’s bill. Smaller towns like Monroe have already changed their position, and will vote in favor of the project at the next CRTPO meeting.
Some members of the Charlotte City Council made it clear at Monday’s meeting that they feel like the city is out of options and has to support the project, despite the legislative hostage taking by the General Assembly, run by Republicans, and a perceived lack of harm reduction from the NC Department of Transportation, run by Democrats.
However, the City shouldn’t make their choice based on threats and pressure. The I-77 toll lanes project doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and — for better or worse — it will transform a large corridor of the community, including Uptown and historic Black neighborhoods in west Charlotte.
Framing the Debate
Most of the arguments for and against the massive I-77 project are well-worn at this point, and will be recycled at the public hearing on Monday, but in case you’ve missed the debate:
If the city council decides to vote to support the project, they won’t have to pay back tens of millions of dollars to the state. Both city government and the people it serves will reap a proposed $300 million in economic and development reinvestment, paid for by toll revenue. With more lanes, traffic will supposedly flow better, and the project will create local jobs and through hundreds of millions of dollars in construction spending.
In short, NCDOT and the General Assembly are framing the debate as, “heads we win, tails you lose.” It’s a compelling argument, even without the pressure from lawmakers.
Opponents of the project note many of the downsides: eminent domain destruction of homes in historic neighborhoods, displacing families; the loss of park and green space in Uptown Charlotte, including at Frazier Park; and another rip in the fabric of the Historic West End. The community will be even more disconnected and less walkable. Toll lanes increase transportation costs and don’t provide equal benefit to community members as transit and other mobility options aren’t part of the plan.
There’s also fundamental disagreement on whether or not adding lanes improves traffic, or induces demand in growing communities (like ours) to the point that traffic congestion returns to previous levels.
Finally, there’s the argument that the legislation requiring the repayment is unlawful, and won’t hold up in court. A bedrock constitutional principle prohibits ex post facto legislation in criminal law, an idea that could be applied here.
“Cars first, people last,” sums up most of the arguments against. If the I-77 project is built in its current form it will cement Charlotte as an asphalt city for a generation.
Deficit Framing vs. Asset Framing
What’s clear in this debate is that opposing the tolls comes with a price: Charlotte will have to pay up to $80 million back to the state if the project comes through, and will miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in both direct and indirect economic impact. If the toll lanes go through, federal and state government will pay the lion’s share of the $4.3 billion in project costs.
What is harder to measure is the cost to our community, which I argue is orders of magnitude greater than the price of stepping away.
Thinking about I-77 in terms of traffic, or a one time payment to the state only considers deficits or problems to be solved. It thinks of people only as commuters and drivers who contribute to traffic, not as walkers, bikers, dog moms, fathers, transit riders, or community members.
That framing doesn’t consider the worth of individuals, neighborhoods and other community assets that we already have. It doesn’t contemplate the value of assets we could have if the project moves in a different direction.
Former Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, who grew up in West Charlotte, recently criticized the project at a community forum, talking about how the current I-77 proposal ignores the history of how roads segregated Charlotte and harmed West End communities.
Foxx also reframed the debate about penalties and project costs this way: “I would match cost with worth.”
Supporters of the project will note there are some proposed investments, including parks and community-owned grocery stores. Even then, does spending $4.3 billion on toll lanes create enough assets with lasting worth to the community? Or does it add an even larger maintenance burden to an unsustainable state highway system that is already the second biggest in the county?
What Is a Community Worth?
In its current form, however, the I-77 toll lanes project throws out our city’s commitments to equity, the environment, public spaces, transit, mobility, health, community, and so much more out the window. It ignores adopted city policies like the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
What we lose under the current plan is worth so much more than a paltry $80 million penalty. It puts the heart of Charlotte down a path that looks more like 1940 than 2040.
Is there a compromise or a reimagining of the project that could make it worth both the ten-figure price tag and the costs to the community? Absolutely, but the temperature needs to come down.
Recently, so much of the thinking about the project has been under duress and threats. Meanwhile, community members haven’t felt heard during the process, even though some important concessions have been made.
A better plan seems more likely if the ultimatums go away, and there is a way to do that in Sawyer’s bill: if the NCDOT concurs with CRTPO that the decision to kill the project was not “unilateral,” and also votes to reconsider the project.
NCDOT and Governor Josh Stein should work with Charlotte to improve the project and protect the neighborhoods that both Stein and his father fought for as civil rights lawyers. Take away the $80 million threat to Charlotte, and cooler heads can prevail, giving community members assets that are worth the cost.
I say all of this while recognizing that we absolutely must address the mobility infrastructure of this community. We are a city racing toward 1 million residents, in a region racing toward 3 million. Transformational change in how we get around Charlotte isn’t optional, but we have to be smart about how we get there.
We need to reimagine mobility across our 300-square-mile community and build a transportation system that actually meets those needs. We shouldn’t abandon that goal simply because a neighboring legislator thinks we should.
Clayton Sealey is founder of CLT Development and an expert on local and regional development.