Sustain Charlotte Releases I-77 South Mobility Report Calling for Comprehensive, Multimodal Strategy
Report urges state and regional leaders to evaluate operational, transit, safety, and community-reconnection strategies without delay
CHARLOTTE — Sustain Charlotte today released a new report, A Better Way Forward: Strategies to Improve Mobility, Reliability, and Safety on I-77 South, outlining a comprehensive set of recommendations to improve one of the Charlotte region’s most important transportation corridors.
The full report is available here.
I-77 South serves commuters, freight movement, regional economic activity, and daily travel between Mecklenburg County, York County, and the broader Charlotte metropolitan area. As the region continues to grow, the corridor faces worsening congestion, unreliable travel times, and safety concerns.
The report concludes that I-77 South’s challenges are real but more complex than a simple shortage of lanes. Some congestion is caused by traffic demand exceeding available roadway capacity. Other congestion results from operational turbulence, including short merge lanes, weaving movements, sudden braking, crashes, stalled vehicles, closely spaced entrances and exits, and inconsistent speeds.
Because these problems stem from different causes, the report recommends a broader toolbox of mobility strategies rather than relying on a single large-scale highway expansion project.
“Improving I-77 South requires a more complete strategy than simply adding lanes,” said Shannon Binns, Founder and Executive Director of Sustain Charlotte. “The region should evaluate practical operational improvements, stronger transit options, demand-management strategies, targeted ramp and interchange modernization, and long-term opportunities to reconnect communities. These tools are already being used in peer regions across the country, and many can be evaluated or piloted much sooner than a major highway expansion.”
The report recommends that state lawmakers and the North Carolina Board of Transportation work closely with CRTPO board members, the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NCDOT, CATS, regional jurisdictions, and other partners to evaluate and implement the recommendations without delay.
Key recommendations
The report outlines a phased set of strategies that can improve mobility, reliability, safety, and access while supporting regional growth.
1. Evaluate ramp metering at key bottlenecks
Ramp metering uses traffic signals on highway entrance ramps to control how quickly vehicles enter the freeway. By spacing vehicles before they merge, ramp metering can reduce turbulence, improve travel-time reliability, reduce stop-and-go traffic breakdowns, and improve safety at key bottlenecks.
2. Modernize ramps and interchanges without expanding the highway footprint
Many ramps and interchanges along older urban freeways were not designed for today’s traffic volumes, vehicle speeds, safety standards, or multimodal needs. The report recommends evaluating targeted ramp, interchange, and bottleneck improvements that reduce weaving, improve safety, simplify confusing movements, improve bicycle and pedestrian crossings, and avoid expanding into adjacent neighborhoods, parks, greenways, cemeteries, or other valuable community assets.
The report also recommends evaluating ramp consolidation, ramp removal, and right-sizing opportunities where they could reduce conflict points, improve local connectivity, and reclaim land for public benefit.
3. Deploy Active Traffic Management
Active Traffic Management uses real-time technology to manage traffic conditions. Strategies can include variable speed limits, lane-control signs, real-time incident warnings, queue warnings, dynamic shoulder use, and traveler information systems. These tools can improve safety and reliability, particularly in corridors with frequent incidents, heavy merging, and variable speeds.
4. Pilot Bus on Shoulder operations on I-77 South
North Carolina already operates Bus on Shoulder service in the Triangle region. The report recommends evaluating a Charlotte-region Bus on Shoulder pilot on I-77 South, combined with express bus service, park-and-ride facilities, and ramp metering. This strategy could help buses bypass congestion during peak periods and provide more reliable travel times for riders.
5. Preserve and expand regional express bus service
Existing bus service in the I-77 South corridor is limited. The report recommends improving regional express bus service connecting Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Pineville, Ballantyne, South End, and Uptown Charlotte. Potential improvements include more frequent all-day and peak-period service, park-and-ride facilities, direct service to major employment centers, queue jumps, transit priority treatments, and future Bus Rapid Transit infrastructure.
6. Implement Transportation Demand Management
Transportation Demand Management strategies reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips, especially during peak commute periods. The report recommends employer-based strategies such as transit passes, vanpool and carpool incentives, preferential parking, parking cash-out programs, pre-tax commuter benefits, guaranteed ride home programs, hybrid work policies, staggered start times, park-and-ride partnerships, and commuter marketing.
These strategies can begin before major infrastructure projects are complete and can make other transportation investments more effective.
7. Advance the Blue Line extension and evaluate future high-capacity transit connections south
The report recommends continuing to prioritize the planned Blue Line extension to Pineville and Ballantyne while also evaluating whether long-term high-capacity transit should extend farther south toward Fort Mill and Rock Hill.
Options that deserve evaluation include a southern Blue Line extension or branch, Bus Rapid Transit between Rock Hill/Fort Mill and the I-485 Blue Line station, and phased combinations of these strategies.
8. Study regional commuter rail options
The report recommends evaluating whether regional commuter rail could connect Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Pineville, and Uptown Charlotte using existing rail corridors where feasible. Options should include shared use of existing Norfolk Southern tracks, dedicated passenger tracks within or adjacent to existing rail corridors, regional rail service with more frequent all-day operations, or preservation of a separate passenger rail corridor if shared or parallel use is infeasible.
9. Evaluate highway capping, tunneling, ramp right-sizing, and community reconnection opportunities
Selective highway capping, tunneling, ramp right-sizing, and land reclamation could reconnect neighborhoods divided by highway infrastructure while creating opportunities for public space, development, safer walking and biking connections, and long-term economic value.
The report notes that Charlotte’s Reconnecting the West End study is already exploring how ramp and interchange redesign can support community repair near I-77 and Uptown. Similar opportunities should be evaluated along I-77 South where appropriate.
A phased approach
The report recommends a phased implementation strategy.
Near-term strategies, within 1–5 years, include ramp metering pilots, Bus on Shoulder evaluation, enhanced express bus planning, park-and-ride facilities, Active Traffic Management planning, targeted ramp and bottleneck safety analysis, incident-response improvements, and feasibility studies for ramp right-sizing and community reconnection.
Medium-term strategies, within 5–15 years, include the Blue Line extension to Pineville and Ballantyne, expanded Bus on Shoulder and ramp metering if pilots are successful, regional Bus Rapid Transit connecting Rock Hill and Fort Mill to the Blue Line, targeted interchange modernization, transit priority improvements, and implementation of community reconnection projects identified through feasibility studies.
Long-term strategies, beyond 15 years, include a southern Blue Line extension or branch toward Fort Mill and Rock Hill, regional commuter rail, dedicated passenger rail tracks or preserved passenger rail corridors, selective highway capping or tunneling, ramp removal where appropriate, and reconnection of additional neighborhoods divided by highway infrastructure.
Regional plans already point toward high-capacity transit
The report also notes that high-capacity transit in the I-77 South / U.S. 21 corridor is not a new idea. Regional planning efforts dating back to 1988 have identified the need for stronger transit connections between Charlotte and communities to the south. More recently, CONNECT Beyond identified the I-77 South corridor as a high-capacity transit corridor between Uptown Charlotte and Downtown Rock Hill, with connections to Fort Mill and surrounding communities. Beyond 77 also identified regional high-capacity transit and dedicated bus lanes as part of the corridor’s mobility toolbox.
“The path forward is not a mystery,” Binns said. “For decades, regional planning efforts have pointed toward the same conclusion: growing congestion on I-77 South cannot be solved by highway expansion alone. High-capacity transit and other multimodal strategies have been recommended repeatedly. The question now is whether the region’s leaders are ready to act.”
Sustain Charlotte urges state lawmakers and the North Carolina Board of Transportation to work closely with CRTPO board members, the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and regional partners to evaluate these recommendations quickly and transparently. The organization also encourages decision-makers to measure future transportation investments not only by vehicle speed, but by their ability to improve safety, move people efficiently, provide reliable travel choices, support economic opportunity, reconnect communities, and strengthen the region for future generations.
About Sustain Charlotte
Sustain Charlotte is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to create a more equitable, connected, and healthy community by inspiring responsible growth and transportation choices.