{"id":1724,"date":"2026-06-17T09:04:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:04:04","slug":"mecklenburg-commissioners-slam-pitch-to-require-charlotte-to-repay-i-77-toll-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724","title":{"rendered":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mecklenburg County commissioners affirmed their opposition<\/a> Tuesday to adding toll lanes to Interstate 77 South and called a plan floated in the state legislature to make local government pay up for work that\u2019s already been done a \u201cpower grab.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more 45-acre NC luxury estate for sale with \u2018world-class\u2019 equestrian amenities<\/a><\/p>\n

County staff updated commissioners at their Tuesday meeting on the status of the project and what could happen next in the North Carolina General Assembly.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Transportation planned to add toll lanes to an 11-mile stretch<\/a> of I-77 from uptown to the South Carolina state line, and local officials approved a public-private partnership<\/a> to pay for it in 2024. But the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization voted in May to rescind support<\/a> for the project after months of consternation in the community<\/a> over the impacts of the new lanes on neighborhoods and the environment.<\/p>\n

NCDOT had spent about $60 million on the project before CRTPO reversed its decision.<\/p>\n

A potential amendment to a transportation bill in the state legislature<\/a> that would make local governments who voted in favor of rescinding support to pay back the money began to circulate late last week<\/a>. It also says the state wouldn\u2019t start new transportation projects and would withhold money for road maintenance until the $60 million is paid back.<\/p>\n

The amendment, proposed by Charlotte-area Sen. Vickie Sawyer<\/a>, calls for local governments to divide the cost among themselves based on the value of their weighted CRTPO votes. Representatives of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Davidson, Monroe, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville and the Metropolitan Transit Commission voted to rescind.<\/p>\n

Sawyer\u2019s amendment hasn\u2019t officially been added to the legislation as of Tuesday night, but the Republican who represents parts of north Mecklenburg and Iredell County has expressed confidence in its chances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been vetted, supported, and will be in the budget. This is me actually being kind to the City of Charlotte, and to those communities who did vote to rescind,\u201d Sawyer said on her weekly radio show<\/a> on WAME in Statesville. \u201cAnd I am communicating to you right now that this will happen. This is not a joke. You will lose this, and you will have to pay back the money to the state, and until you pay back the money from the state, your Powell Bill dollars will be frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to speak at Queens University<\/a><\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Mecklenburg commissioners questioned the legality of the potential amendment and accused legislators of trying to overrule the will of residents and their local representatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is retaliatory governance as opposed to representative governance,\u201d District 6 Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell said.<\/p>\n

At-large Commissioner Leigh Altman, who typically represents the county board on CRTPO, noted that the county commission voted against the toll lanes during the 2024 vote and the May vote to reverse CRTPO\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have in no way changed the position of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners vis-\u00e0-vis this project,\u201d Altman said at Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

Altman described the potential amendment as a \u201cscare tactic\u201d that \u201cdoesn\u2019t make a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI call upon the Department of Transportation and Gov. Josh Stein to make clear that it would never hold hostage other unrelated projects because of this, frankly, illegal and unconstitutional power grab by the General Assembly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more Big SC taxpayer incentives deal targets Rock Hill 1,200-job project. What to know<\/a><\/p>\n

CRTPO is scheduled to talk about the project<\/a> again at its Wednesday meeting.<\/p>\n

Observer reporters Desiree Mathurin, Nick Sullivan and DJ Simmons contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mecklenburg commissioners said they still oppose adding toll lanes to I-77 South and called amendment to make local government pay back $60M a \u201cpower grab.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nMecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mecklenburg commissioners said they still oppose adding toll lanes to I-77 South and called amendment to make local government pay back $60M a \u201cpower grab.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93\"},\"headline\":\"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724\"},\"wordCount\":609,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724\",\"name\":\"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=1724#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide","og_description":"Mecklenburg commissioners said they still oppose adding toll lanes to I-77 South and called amendment to make local government pay back $60M a \u201cpower grab.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724","og_site_name":"\u0421harlotte Relocation Guide","article_published_time":"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93"},"headline":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs","datePublished":"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724"},"wordCount":609,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg","articleSection":["Read today's Edition"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724","url":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724","name":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-17T09:04:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/93f4ec7fb6853133a196b431858aff5d.jpg","width":1200,"height":674},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1724#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mecklenburg commissioners slam pitch to require Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/","name":"\u0421harlotte Relocation Guide","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com"],"url":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}