The North Carolina Department of Transportation said Wednesday it has decided to build part of the Interstate 77 express lanes project through uptown by elevating the toll lanes.
The DOT considered two options for the massive, $3.2 billion rebuild of I-77.
One option was to build the new lanes at-grade, or at the same level as the existing lanes. That would have created the widest footprint.
The other option was to elevate the toll lanes through uptown by putting them on top of the existing interstate highway.
The state said the elevated option “significantly reduces property impacts to McCrorey Heights and Wesley Heights” and minimizes the amount of land taken from Frazier Park. It also doesn’t impact Pinewood Cemetery.
Some neighborhood leaders had urged the state to either not widen the highway, or look at placing part of I-77 below ground. Cities such as Boston and Seattle have buried highways.
They have said elevated toll lanes will be ugly and increase noise pollution.
The DOT, however, said that placing the highway underground would be too expensive.
The group Sustain Charlotte criticized the plan, saying most of the DOT’s community engagement was done before the elevated plan was unveiled.
“Most of the community engagement they cite occurred before either of these designs were made public,” said Shannon Binns, Sustain Charlotte’s executive director. “You can’t meaningfully weigh in on impacts, tradeoffs, or alternatives if you’re not told what’s actually being proposed.”
The state plans to partner with a private developer to build and manage the toll lanes. The widening project will be one of the most complex and expensive road projects in the state’s history.
The toll lanes will run from uptown to the South Carolina line. When finished, the new lanes will connect with existing express lanes on I-77 north and new toll lanes on I-485 that are opening later this month.
