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NCDOT’s $69.6 Million I-77 Spreadsheet Raises New Questions About Taxpayer Accountability

Sustain Charlotte says local taxpayers should not be forced to pay twice for a project their elected representatives rejected after its impacts were finally disclosed

CHARLOTTE — NCDOT’s disclosure that it has charged nearly $69.6 million to the I-77 South project raises serious new questions about the agency’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars — but it does not change Sustain Charlotte’s fundamental concern about what the State of North Carolina is doing to Charlotte and other local communities across the region.

“Our greatest concern is the extraordinary decision by the General Assembly to punish local taxpayers for a lawful decision made by their elected representatives,” said Shannon Binns, founder and executive director of Sustain Charlotte.

When Charlotte City Council and CRTPO voted in May to end their support for the I-77 toll lane project, there was no state law requiring local taxpayers to reimburse NCDOT for tens of millions of dollars. The General Assembly enacted that penalty afterward, made the relevant provision retroactive to January 1, 2026, and specifically provided that governments participating in the May 20 I-77 vote could avoid the penalty only by reversing themselves within 90 days.¹

“In our view, that fundamentally undermines representative democracy and the rule of law,” Binns 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.”

The newly released $69.6 million figure creates an additional concern: What exactly did taxpayers receive for that money, and was it spent prudently?

NCDOT’s spreadsheet shows that approximately $59 million went to professional consultants, including nearly $29 million listed under two RS&H entries, while almost $4.9 million is categorized as legal services. Yet when work stopped, NCDOT said the project was only approximately 10 to 15 percent designed, the environmental review had not been completed, and the first draft request for proposals had not yet been issued.²

“Nearly $70 million is an extraordinary amount of public money,” Binns said. “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.”

Sustain Charlotte is filing a public records request with NCDOT seeking the contracts, task orders, invoices, consultant billing rates, hours worked, and completed deliverables underlying the nearly $69.6 million in expenditures. The request will also seek records showing which studies, surveys, engineering work, and other products remain useful for future improvements to I-77 and which expenditures NCDOT considers truly lost as a result of the project being stopped.

Timing is also critical.

NCDOT’s spreadsheet includes expenses dating back to November 2018 — nearly six years before CRTPO voted in October 2024 to allow NCDOT to move forward with the public-private partnership procurement process.³

Equally important, the detailed maps showing where the proposed toll lanes would actually be built and the impacts they could have on surrounding communities were not publicly presented until November 2025, well after CRTPO’s 2024 vote.

“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.'”

Binns noted that Charlotte-area residents already contribute to NCDOT through state taxes.

“So local taxpayers are effectively being asked to pay twice. Once through the state taxes that funded this work in the first place, and again because their elected representatives ultimately decided this was not the right project for their community.”

Sustain Charlotte is calling on Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and every CRTPO jurisdiction to demand full documentation before accepting NCDOT’s $69.6 million figure at face value or allowing the threat of reimbursement to influence another vote.

The organization is also calling on Governor Josh Stein to take a more active role.

Governor Stein previously described the General Assembly’s action as “wrong-headed threats of retribution against Charlotte.”⁴

“We agree with the governor,” Binns said. “But NCDOT is an agency of his administration. Governor Stein appointed its leadership, and ultimately the buck stops with him. He should insist that NCDOT fully account for how this money was spent, make clear whether his administration believes Charlotte-area taxpayers should be punished for their elected officials’ lawful decision, and work to repeal this retroactive provision.”

“This is bigger than one toll-road project,” Binns said. “North Carolinians should be able to trust that their state government spends their tax dollars prudently. And local elected officials should be able to represent their constituents without Raleigh changing the rules afterward and threatening their communities financially if they refuse to reverse their votes.”

“Those are questions of fiscal accountability, local democracy, and trust in government — and North Carolinians deserve answers to all three.”

Sources

  1. Session Law 2026-41, Section 43.27, North Carolina General Assembly — establishes the reimbursement provisions, makes the relevant provisions effective retroactively to January 1, 2026, and specifically addresses governments participating in the May 20, 2026 CRTPO vote.
    https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2025-2026/SL2026-41.html(opens in new tab)
  2. NCDOT, I-77 South Express Lanes project information and March 2026 project update — NCDOT stated the project was approximately 10–15% designed and said the first draft request for proposals was expected later in 2026.
    https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i-77-south-express-lanes/Pages/faq.aspx(opens in new tab)
    https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-03-02-ncdot-to-expand-community-listening-period-i-77.aspx(opens in new tab)
  3. NCDOT I-77 South project history — identifies October 2024 as the point when CRTPO requested that NCDOT move forward with the public-private partnership delivery process.
    https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i-77-south-express-lanes/Pages/project-history.aspx(opens in new tab)
  4. Charlotte Observer coverage of Gov. Josh Stein’s response to the reimbursement provision — Stein characterized the provision as “wrong-headed threats of retribution against Charlotte.”
    https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article316422220.html(opens in new tab)

Media Contact

Shannon Binns
Founder & Executive Director
Sustain Charlotte
[email protected](opens in new tab)

About Sustain Charlotte

Sustain Charlotte is a nonprofit organization working to create a more equitable, connected, and healthy community by inspiring responsible growth and transportation choices. Since 2010, Sustain Charlotte has advocated for safer streets, better public transportation, walkable communities, affordability, parks and greenways, and growth that improves quality of life for everyone in the Charlotte region.