Public Records Raise Questions About HNTB’s I-77 South Role, NCDOT Post-Employment Safeguards, and Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Ties

Sustain Charlotte calls for disclosure of consultant spending, post-employment ethics reviews, and financial interests surrounding the multibillion-dollar toll-lane proposal

CHARLOTTE — A review of public records by Sustain Charlotte is raising new questions about the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s relationship with HNTB, the consulting firm serving as Program Manager/Commercial Advisor for the proposed I-77 South toll-lane project.

The review began after Sustain Charlotte received suggestions from knowledgeable sources familiar with transportation contracting to examine HNTB’s work for NCDOT, the roles and influence of former senior NCDOT officials now at HNTB, and the firm’s relationship with the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, a prominent advocate for I-77 South.

The records show that at least four former senior NCDOT officials — Bobby Lewis, Ronnie Keeter, Brian Burch, and Chris Peoples — subsequently joined HNTB.

Former NCDOT Chief Operating Officer Bobby Lewis, who joined HNTB in 2020, has played a particularly significant role. HNTB’s own qualifications materials state that beginning in January 2022, Lewis has led NCDOT’s statewide analysis comparing publicly and privately operated toll projects. HNTB specifically identifies I-77 South among those projects and says Lewis manages the financial, technical, and legal advisers participating in the analysis.

Former Chief Engineer Ronnie Keeter and former Western Deputy Chief Engineer Brian Burch also joined HNTB after decades at NCDOT. NCDOT’s September 2025 I-77 South Industry Forum attendee list shows Lewis, Keeter, and Burch all representing HNTB. Most recently, former NCDOT COO Chris Peoples retired on June 1, 2026, and joined HNTB less than two months later.

Sustain Charlotte has not concluded that any person or organization violated a law or ethics rule. However, North Carolina law and NCDOT’s own ethics policies contain safeguards governing public contracting, future employment, and the work of former employees on contracts in which they previously participated.

“We are not asking anyone to assume these safeguards were violated,” said Shannon Binns, founder and executive director of Sustain Charlotte. “We are asking NCDOT to provide the records necessary to show whether they were followed.”

The review also raises questions about the full amount HNTB has received for I-77 South-related work.

NCDOT’s accounting attributes $6.98 million to HNTB — approximately 10% of the $69.6 million it says has been spent on I-77 South to date. But HNTB also holds large statewide and Turnpike Authority consulting contracts that can fund work through individual task orders. One HNTB Strategic General Services contract grew to $19 million in authorized capacity; its successor has grown to $30 million; and a separate North Carolina Turnpike Authority HNTB contract has grown to approximately $37 million. Those are contract ceilings, not amounts necessarily paid, and they cover work beyond I-77 South. Sustain Charlotte is asking NCDOT to disclose HNTB task orders and invoices related to I-77 South so the public can determine whether all project-related HNTB expenses are reflected in the $6.98 million attributed directly to the firm and in the overall $69.6 million project total.

HNTB could also have a substantial financial interest in future project phases. Information provided during Sustain Charlotte’s review suggested that program-management compensation for a project of this type could reach 5%–8% of the project cost. Sustain Charlotte has not independently verified that percentage and is not presenting it as HNTB’s actual or anticipated fee. But if applied to the approximately $5 billion project cost cited in HNTB’s own qualifications materials, the range would be $250 million to $400 million. Sustain Charlotte believes the scale makes disclosure of HNTB’s anticipated compensation important.

The review also identified longstanding financial and leadership relationships between HNTB, Cintra, and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, a prominent advocate for I-77 South. CRBA’s 2023 annual report identifies both HNTB and Cintra as Visionary Investors, a level requiring a $50,000 annual investment that year. Both companies also had senior executives serving on CRBA’s 2023 Board of Trustees, and those leadership ties have continued. HNTB also contributed $100,000 to CRBA’s campaign for the Mecklenburg County transportation sales tax increase last year. Cintra is also part of 77SouthLink, one of four teams NCDOT shortlisted to compete for the I-77 South concession.

“These relationships do not prove improper conduct,” Binns said. “But when companies advising NCDOT or competing for a multibillion-dollar project are also major financial supporters and leaders of an organization advocating for that project, we believe elected officials and the public should know that.”The

Charlotte City Council is scheduled to consider I-77 South on Monday, September 21.

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. Learn more at sustaincharlotte.org.

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A more comprehensive report of Sustain Charlotte’s research findings, including additional documentation, context, and unanswered questions, follows below.

HNTB has played a central role in NCDOT’s I-77 South analysis

NCDOT’s own documents identify HNTB as the Program Manager/Commercial Advisor for I-77 South. An earlier NCDOT presentation likewise identified HNTB as the Program/Commercial member of the outside advisory team conducting the comparative analysis between traditional public toll delivery and a public-private partnership. HNTB has also publicly described I-77 South as one of its major P3 advisory assignments.

Former NCDOT Chief Operating Officer Bobby Lewis has played a particularly significant role in that work. Lewis joined HNTB in September 2020 as a vice president and national practice consultant after serving as NCDOT’s COO. HNTB’s announcement emphasized that Lewis had been responsible for NCDOT operations and strategy and said his new role would involve advising state departments of transportation. More significantly, HNTB’s own qualifications materials state that beginning in January 2022, Lewis has led the North Carolina DOT Comparative Analysis for Toll Projects Statewide, evaluating publicly operated versus privately operated toll projects.

The projects specifically identified include the Mid-Currituck Bridge, Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement, and I-77 South Express Lanes. HNTB describes I-77 South in those materials as an approximately $5 billion project and states that Lewis was also managing the financial, technical and legal advisers conducting the analysis. This places a former NCDOT chief operating officer in a central consulting role for his former agency on an analysis involving whether major toll projects, including I-77 South, should be publicly or privately delivered.

Multiple former senior NCDOT officials subsequently joined HNTB

Lewis is not an isolated example. Former NCDOT Chief Engineer Ronnie Keeter retired from NCDOT on May 31, 2022, after nearly 30 years with the Department and subsequently joined HNTB. Former NCDOT Western Deputy Chief Engineer Brian Burch retired from NCDOT in spring 2022 after a 29-year career and joined HNTB that year as a senior project manager. NCDOT’s official attendance list for its September 2, 2025, I-77 South Industry Forum shows Lewis, Keeter and Burch all attending as representatives of HNTB.

Most recently, former NCDOT Chief Operating Officer Chris Peoples left the Department in late May 2026 and officially retired on June 1. HNTB announced on July 22, 2026 — less than two months later — that Peoples had joined the firm as vice president, senior group director and Raleigh location leader. HNTB said Peoples would lead multidisciplinary delivery of complex transportation projects and emphasized his more than 30 years at NCDOT. As COO, Peoples oversaw highways, ferries, aviation, rail, integrated mobility, planning and programming. He previously served as NCDOT chief engineer and deputy chief engineer.

Sustain Charlotte has not established that any of these employment transitions violated law or policy. The unanswered question is whether any former official subsequently performed HNTB work on the same specific NCDOT contracts or matters the official had previously helped draft, scope, award, negotiate, or administer while employed by NCDOT.

State law and NCDOT policy contain safeguards addressing these relationships

North Carolina law specifically addresses public contracting and future employment. Under N.C.G.S. §14-234, a public officer or employee may not solicit or receive a benefit, expressly including a promise of future employment, in exchange for recommending, influencing or attempting to influence the award of a public contract. That does not mean subsequently accepting employment with an NCDOT contractor constitutes a violation. Whether the law would apply in any individual case would depend on facts, including when employment discussions occurred and whether the employee was participating in decisions affecting the prospective employer at the time.

NCDOT’s own Ethics Policy contains an even more directly relevant “Restriction on Future Employment.” The policy says former NCDOT officers and employees are restricted from accepting employment with a business entity in connection with a specific contract if, while at NCDOT, they participated in drafting the contract, defining its scope, selecting the business entity, negotiating contract costs, man-hours or fees, or administering the contract. The policy permits former employees to work for the same company on unrelated matters and provides a process through which an exception may be approved by NCDOT leadership.

I-77 procurement documents have also included ethics provisions restricting former NCDOT employees from working on projects in which they were previously involved. Current I-77 South procurement materials likewise contemplate ethical standards addressing conflicts of interest and restrictions regarding former NCDOT employees. The existence of these safeguards does not demonstrate that anyone violated them. It does demonstrate that NCDOT itself considers these potential conflicts significant enough to regulate.

That creates several factual questions for NCDOT: What HNTB contracts or decisions did these employees participate in while at the Department? When did any employment discussions with HNTB begin? Were potential conflicts disclosed or recusals made? Have these former employees subsequently worked for HNTB on the same contracts they previously helped develop or administer? And if so, did NCDOT grant an exception or other approval?

HNTB’s NCDOT business extends well beyond one I-77 contract

Public records show that HNTB performs extensive work for NCDOT through broad statewide agreements in addition to project-specific assignments.

NCDOT has maintained statewide Strategic General Services Consultant contracts with HNTB. The publicly available scope of these contracts is exceptionally broad and includes strategy development, evaluation of Department programs and investments, funding and financing advice, program implementation, project-delivery and project-management advice, preparation of reports and presentations, program-management support and other strategic services requested by the COO or designee.

The 2018 HNTB Strategic General Services contract originally had a maximum engineering fee of $2.5 million. By May 2022, NCDOT Board records showed $11.5 million in previous supplemental fees and another $5 million supplement, increasing total authorized capacity to $19 million. The successor 2023 Strategic General Services contract began with an $8 million maximum engineering fee. By September 2025, supplemental authorizations had increased that amount to $23 million. In May 2026, NCDOT approved another $7 million, bringing the total authorized capacity under the contract to $30 million. These figures are contract authorizations or ceilings, not evidence that HNTB was paid those entire amounts, and the contracts cover statewide work rather than I-77 South alone.

Public records also show HNTB performing extensive work through a North Carolina Turnpike Authority General Engineering Consultant contract. NCDOT records show the 2021 contract ultimately grew to approximately $37 million in authorized capacity. Again, that is not an I-77 South-only contract and does not establish that the full amount was paid. The significance is that NCDOT and the Turnpike Authority have multiple contractual mechanisms through which HNTB can perform transportation work.

Questions remain about NCDOT’s $69.6 million I-77 South accounting

NCDOT has reported approximately $69.6 million in preliminary expenditures associated with I-77 South, with nearly $60 million attributed to consultants. Sustain Charlotte’s review raises the question of whether that project-specific accounting includes all HNTB work benefiting I-77 South that may have been performed through Strategic General Services, North Carolina Turnpike Authority, or other master contracts. That distinction matters because the scope of the Strategic General Services contract expressly allows strategic analysis, financing advice, project-delivery advice, and program-management assistance.

Work concerning I-77 South could therefore potentially have been performed under a statewide task order rather than appearing solely as a direct I-77 South consultant expense. The underlying task orders, notices to proceed, invoices, employee time records, accounting codes, and contract deliverables would allow NCDOT to answer that question.

Sustain Charlotte is asking the Department to reconcile all HNTB work associated with I-77 South with the approximately $69.6 million preliminary cost figure released publicly. “The question isn’t simply what was charged directly to one I-77 project code,” Binns said. “It is how much HNTB has actually been paid for work connected to this project across all of the contracts available to NCDOT.”

Public records indicate HNTB was deeply involved in the procurement process

NCDOT’s publicly posted redline of an I-77 South Request for Qualifications contains document-title references indicating versions were “SENT TO HNTB” and later “Final sent to HNTB.” A document title alone does not establish who drafted particular language. However, it is consistent with NCDOT’s identification of HNTB as Program Manager/Commercial Advisor and raises additional questions about the firm’s role in developing the procurement. Among the issues Sustain Charlotte believes records should clarify are HNTB’s role in drafting or reviewing the RFQ, developing procurement terms, preparing P3 financial and commercial analyses, participating in meetings with prospective developers, evaluating prospective proposers, shortlisting proposer teams, and recommending continuation of the P3 procurement.

HNTB could also have a substantial financial interest in future phases

HNTB’s role is not limited to past analysis. NCDOT identifies the firm as I-77 South’s Program Manager / Commercial Advisor. During Sustain Charlotte’s review, the organization was advised that program management compensation for a large transportation project of this type could be approximately 5%–8% of the total project cost. Sustain Charlotte has not located a public HNTB contract, NCDOT fee schedule, or other independent documentation confirming that percentage and is not presenting it as HNTB’s established, anticipated or guaranteed compensation. The potential scale nevertheless illustrates why disclosure of the actual compensation arrangement matters.

NCDOT’s current State Transportation Improvement Program programs I-77 South at approximately $4.313 billion in year-of-expenditure dollars. If a hypothetical 5%–8% fee were applied to that amount, the resulting figure would be approximately $216 million to $345 million. HNTB itself has described I-77 South as an approximately $5 billion project. At that cost, the same hypothetical range would equal $250 million to $400 million. These calculations are illustrations of financial scale only. They are not estimates of a confirmed HNTB contract value.

Sustain Charlotte believes NCDOT and HNTB should disclose what work the firm would perform if I-77 South advances through procurement, design, and construction, how the firm would be compensated, whether that compensation depends in any way on project size or construction cost, and the maximum amount HNTB could receive.

HNTB and Cintra have longstanding financial and leadership ties to the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance

Sustain Charlotte’s review also examined relationships between companies with financial interests connected to I-77 South and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, which has been a prominent public advocate for the advancement of the project. CRBA is a federally tax-exempt 501(c)(6) business organization, the tax status commonly used by chambers of commerce and business leagues. Federal law allows organizations with that status to lobby on matters related to their exempt purpose. CRBA, therefore, has every right to advocate for I-77 South.

The question raised by Sustain Charlotte is not whether the Alliance should participate in the debate, but whether elected officials, journalists, and the public should understand the financial and governance relationships between the Alliance and companies with significant business interests associated with the project.

CRBA’s 2023 annual report identifies both HNTB Corporation and Cintra US as Visionary Investors. The same annual report lists HNTB Vice President Greg Boulanger and then-Cintra U.S. President Alberto Gonzalez on its Board of Trustees. The Alliance’s published investment structure places the Visionary level among its highest levels of corporate support and associates higher levels of investment with opportunities for organizational leadership and participation. HNTB’s relationship with CRBA also appears to predate 2023. Public nonprofit records show Boulanger serving as a CRBA trustee in an earlier period, although the records reviewed to date are not sufficient to establish uninterrupted year-by-year board service.

Boulanger’s involvement continues today. In February 2026, HNTB named him its Carolinas office leader and senior vice president and stated in announcing the appointment that he serves on the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Board of Trustees. Cintra’s leadership relationship with the Alliance has also continued. Former U.S. President Alberto Gonzalez remained represented in Alliance governance in subsequent years, while current Cintra U.S. President Javier Tamargo is listed on CRBA’s 2026 board.

HNTB has also financially supported transportation advocacy aligned with Alliance priorities

HNTB contributed $100,000 to the Coalition for a Better 2050, the campaign supporting Mecklenburg County’s transportation-sales-tax referendum. That campaign was not related to I-77 South, and Sustain Charlotte is not suggesting otherwise. The contribution nevertheless provides additional context regarding HNTB’s financial participation in transportation initiatives aligned with priorities publicly championed by the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. The Alliance’s advocacy structure provides further context.

Its 2024 Advocacy Committee included an HNTB vice president, the corporate affairs director of I-77 Mobility Partners, and a Cintra US community affairs representative. The Alliance says its advocacy work helps develop the policy agenda it takes to elected officials. Corporate involvement in a chamber of commerce’s policy process is commonplace and does not establish improper influence. But the relationships are relevant context when evaluating advocacy regarding a project in which participating companies have substantial financial interests.

Cintra is competing for the I-77 South concession

Cintra’s interest in I-77 South is direct. NCDOT’s February 2026 shortlist for the project includes 77SouthLink, whose equity members include Cintra Holding US Corp. Cintra is therefore part of one of four teams NCDOT selected to advance in the procurement for the proposed I-77 South concession. Cintra is also associated with the existing I-77 North public-private toll-lane concession through I-77 Mobility Partners. None of these relationships demonstrates that CRBA’s position on I-77 South is improper or that HNTB or Cintra dictated the Alliance’s advocacy. Corporate participation in business organizations is commonplace.

The relationships are nevertheless material context. HNTB advises NCDOT on I-77 South, serves as NCDOT’s Program Manager / Commercial Advisor and could potentially receive substantial additional work if the project advances. Cintra is part of a shortlisted team competing for the concession. Both companies have provided significant financial support to CRBA and have had senior executives participating in Alliance leadership.

“When companies with a direct financial interest in a multibillion-dollar public project are also major financial supporters and leaders of an organization advocating for that project, we believe elected officials and the public should know that,” Binns said. “That does not mean the Alliance’s position is improper or that its investors dictated it. It simply means these relationships are relevant context when evaluating the advocacy and arguments surrounding the project.”

The records needed to resolve these questions

Sustain Charlotte believes the unanswered questions can largely be resolved through existing public records.

Those records should establish how much HNTB has actually been paid for work directly or indirectly related to I-77 South; which contracts and task orders funded that work; how much work may have been billed through statewide Strategic General Services, Turnpike Authority or other contracts; and whether all such expenditures were included in NCDOT’s approximately $69.6 million preliminary-cost accounting.

They should also establish what services HNTB performed under relevant task orders, which employees billed time to that work, what role Bobby Lewis has played in I-77 South since January 2022, what role HNTB played in recommending the P3 delivery mechanism, and what role the firm played in drafting or reviewing procurement documents, meeting with prospective developers or evaluating proposer teams.

The same records should allow NCDOT to explain whether Lewis, Keeter, Burch, Peoples or other former Department officials participated while at NCDOT in contracts or decisions involving HNTB; when any employment discussions began; whether potential conflicts were disclosed or recusals occurred; whether those former employees subsequently worked on the same specific contracts they previously helped develop or administer; and whether NCDOT issued any exception, waiver, ethics determination or written approval.

Finally, Sustain Charlotte believes NCDOT and HNTB should disclose what future work HNTB would perform if I-77 South advances, how that work would be compensated and the maximum amount the firm could receive.

What Sustain Charlotte’s research does — and does not — establish

Sustain Charlotte’s review has not established that HNTB, NCDOT, CRBA, Cintra or any current or former employee violated a law, ethics rule or policy. The available records do not establish that former NCDOT employees improperly accepted jobs, that NCDOT improperly awarded contracts, that HNTB improperly influenced NCDOT, that CRBA’s advocacy was directed by its investors, or that Cintra improperly influenced CRBA.

The records instead reveal a series of significant consulting, employment, financial, and governance relationships surrounding a multibillion-dollar public decision.

“These are specific questions that public records can answer,” Binns said. “The answers may show that every applicable safeguard was followed. If so, that should be easy to demonstrate. What elected officials and the public deserve is a complete accounting of how much money has been paid, what work was performed, who performed it, what additional financial interests exist if the project moves forward, and how NCDOT’s own safeguards were applied.”