Foes of I-77 Toll Lanes Hopeful Of Victory In Senate | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Bill that passed House may be debated and voted on before short session adjourns

    RALEIGH     Opponents of the proposed high-occupancy-or-toll lane project along Interstate 77 sense a bit of momentum after a bill ordering the N.C. Department of Transportation to cancel the project's contract overwhelmingly passed the House.

    Now they're turning their focus on the state Senate.


An aerial photograph of Interstate 77 at Exit 31 in June 2015 shows rush-hour traffic. (CJ file photo)

    One opponent of the HOT lanes project, Sen. Jeff Tarte, R-Mecklenburg, point to the fact that Senate leaders sent the House Bill 954, which passed by a vote of 81-27, to the Senate Transportation Committee.

    "It's a positive sign that it got assigned there rather than to Ways and Means," Tarte said. The Ways and Means Committee is known as a graveyard for bills unpopular with the Senate leadership.

    "If it comes out of Transportation, it will have a lot of steam on it," Tarte said. "It will be moving."

    Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, is on record questioning the need for canceling the project. During an April news conference before the short session began, Berger said he had not seen any information leading him to believe that canceling the project was the right thing to do.

    Plans call for the Spanish company Cintra to construct HOT lanes on a 26-mile stretch of I-77 from The Brookshire Freeway in Charlotte. to the N.C. 150 interchange in Iredell County. The construction would leave four lanes going in both north and south directions.

    Two lanes in each direction would remain standard lanes and not require a toll. Motorists could ride on the other two lanes either by paying a toll or having at least three people in their vehicles.

    Kurt Naas of Widen I-77, which supports the bill, said a lot of people are contacting senators and asking them to support the bill.

    "There's an email brigade going on in [the area around] Lake Norman as far as contacting senators and asking for support," Naaf said. Some elected officials from the region also will travel to Raleigh to encourage the Senate to approve the bill, he said.

    Jean Leier, a spokeswoman for I-77 Mobility Partners, which supports the project, said the organization did "not have a public comment or further information to provide" regarding the bill's prospects.

    The McCrory administration continues to back the I-77 HOT lanes. Last week, state Transportation Secretary Nick Tennyson urged House members not to cancel the project, saying NCDOT could be on the hook for penalties if a court ruled in Cintra's favor in a potential lawsuit.

    During the committee meeting, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Charles Jeter, R-Mecklenburg, estimated that the penalty could run as high as $250 million. However, he said he believed that the contract could be canceled "for cause," because Cintra didn't document litigation it was involved in regarding other projects.

    Tennyson also said that if the contract with Cintra were canceled, he had no idea when I-77 would be widened to relieve traffic congestion.

    Tarte recognizes that there isn't a lot of time to get the bill out of committee if it has a chance of becoming law before the short session ends. Legislative leaders say they're hoping to finish work on the budget and other matters in time for the General Assembly to adjourn before the July 4 holiday.

    "It's got to run by next week or it's probably going to run out of time," Tarte said. He added that the Senate is unlikely to make any changes in the House bill because of the time crunch. If the Senate modifies the bill and passes it, the House either must accept the changes or the bill would have to go to a conference committee to work out the differences. The session may adjourn before those moves could be completed.