CHARLOTTE, N.C. — State transportation leaders are back in Charlotte on Friday to talk through the revived I-77 South toll lane project and the neighborhood investments tied to it.
N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson is scheduled to appear with Mayor Rob Harrington at 9:30 a.m., his first local briefing on the corridor since the project returned to the regional agenda.
City Council’s Intergovernmental Committee met Thursday and agreed to stand up a working group of people who live along the route so residents can help shape the final benefits package. Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said the makeup should mirror the businesses and households that sit next to the highway.
Staff also plan to reopen the corridor information office Friday so west-side residents can review maps and ask about timelines.
The visit follows a Sept. 22 memorandum of agreement between NCDOT and the City of Charlotte. That document locks in a floor of three hundred million dollars in community benefits that must be generated through the project’s public-private procurement model.
The same pact also commits the state to at least one hundred million dollars in additional transportation spending inside Mecklenburg County, chosen with regional partners once a developer is selected.
A preliminary benefits outline attached to the agreement points dollars toward cap-and-stitch decks over the interstate, recreation and civic buildings, housing and small-business support, environmental upgrades and food-access projects in west Charlotte neighborhoods long divided by the highway.
Johnson and Harrington are expected to emphasize how those categories will be finalized with corridor residents before construction contracts advance.
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Filed under: Charlotte NC Traffic News
