Charlotte toll foes to NCDOT: Show proof for $69M billing

AMAZING AERIAL AGENCY

Opponents of the proposed I-77 toll road project want the North Carolina Department of Transportation to provide records of $69.6 million in billing for consulting and design work.

Opponents of toll lanes on I-77 South are demanding transparency in how state money was spent and proposed neighborhood benefits. 

Sustain Charlotte confirmed it plans to file a public records request with North Carolina Department of Transportation for work the agency says totals $69.6 million. The request will also demand records showing studies, surveys, engineering work, and other products are still useful for future improvements to I-77 and which expenditures NCDOT considers lost because the project was tabled. Most of the money – nearly $60 million – was spent on consultants to design the project from uptown to the South Carolina border. 

RS&H, a Jacksonville, Florida-based planning firm, was paid nearly $29 million.

“Nearly $70 million is an extraordinary amount of public money,” Sustain Charlotte founder and executive director Shannon Binns said in a statement. “Taxpayers deserve more than a one-page spreadsheet containing vendor names and dollar amounts. If NCDOT expects local governments to pay this bill, it needs to show us the receipts — what work was performed, who performed it, what rates were charged, how many hours were billed, what was produced, and what taxpayers actually have to show for it.”

Republican lawmakers passed a state budget that was signed into law in July by Gov. Josh Stein after Charlotte City Council voted to withdraw support for toll lanes that requires opponents to compensate NCDOT.

Another opponent of the project, Charlotte-based Action NC, urged caution in considering NCDOT’s proposed community benefits agreement through a private toll operator. The advocacy group cited examples in Virginia, Maryland, Texas and Colorado where agreements were canceled when operators ran into financial challenges while the tolls remained.

“On paper, a CBA sounds like a win for residents,” Action NC political director Robert Dawkins said, but in reality, the toll lane operator has to voluntarily agree to it and national evidence shows these companies almost never take on extra community obligations when their finances are strained.”

In addition to design fees, NCDOT listed additional charges, including meals, attorneys’ fees, office supplies and hotel rooms going back to 2018 — six years before the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization backed a public-private partnership for the project. CRTPO’s board, which voted in May to rescind support, is scheduled to vote again on Sept. 23. If the board votes to support the project, repayment is moot. If not, local governments that oppose the toll lanes would be billed a proportionate share of the invoice. The city of Charlotte controls 41% of CRTPO’s vote.

“Our greatest concern is the extraordinary decision by the General Assembly to punish local taxpayers for a lawful decision made by their elected representatives,” Binns said.
Binns challenged NCDOT’s stewardship of tax money as the new law targeting municipalities opposed to state projects.

“In our view, that fundamentally undermines representative democracy and the rule of law,” he said. “Local elected officials were asked to exercise their judgment on behalf of their constituents. They did so. Changing the consequences after the vote and threatening their taxpayers unless they vote differently next time is undemocratic and un-American.”

A community benefits pact only works if the toll operator agrees to it, Dawkins contends, but they’re far from guaranteed because companies don’t take on obligations that reduce revenue unless required. 

“That matters for Charlotte,” he said. “A company already stretched thin is not going to volunteer for a strong CBA. Financially stressed operators cut obligations — they don’t add them.”

Binns said NCDOT’s spreadsheet showed approximately $59 million went to professional consultants, including nearly $29 million listed under two RS&H entries, while almost $4.9 million is identified for legal services. When work stopped, NCDOT said the project was in the early design phase and the first draft request for proposals had not been issued.

The transportation agency maps showing where the toll lanes would be built and the impacts they could have on surrounding communities were not publicly presented until last November, after CRTPO’s 2024 vote of support.

“When our regional elected officials voted in 2024, they had not yet been shown what this project would actually look like on the ground,” Binns said. “The public and local officials didn't see where the lanes would go and what the impacts could be until more than a year later, in November 2025. 

“When elected officials reconsidered the project based on that information, the state’s response was essentially, ‘Too late.  You already approved it.  And we're going to change the law now so that we can punish you if you don't change your mind and support it.'"

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