I-77 Expansion Options
I-77 Expansion
The proposed expansion of Interstate 77 south of Uptown Charlotte is moving through its early planning stages, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation has released preliminary concepts that show how the corridor could grow in the coming years. Unlike Charlotte’s recently approved transportation sales tax, this project is funded separately and focuses specifically on widening one of the region’s most heavily used highways. NCDOT has stressed that even without tolling, new lanes would still be necessary, and the central question is how and where that expansion should occur. Tolling relates more to how the lanes would be funded rather than whether they are built.
The current proposal would add two managed express lanes in each direction along roughly 11 miles of I-77, from the South Carolina border to the edge of Uptown. The estimated cost is about $3.2 billion. NCDOT argues that new capacity is needed to improve reliability and manage congestion on a corridor that often carries more than 160,000 vehicles a day. Charlotte has already seen the managed lane model on I-77 North. While that project faced early criticism, the lanes have shown consistent use, and NCDOT says lessons from the northern segment will inform the southern design, with a stronger focus on moving more vehicles overall rather than maximizing revenue.
To illustrate how the southern expansion might take shape, NCDOT has released two early design concepts. The first is an at-grade expansion. This approach adds new lanes outward at the same level as the existing roadway. It is less complex to build but requires more land, increasing the likelihood of impacts to nearby streets, parks, and homes.
At-Grade Option
The second option is an elevated expansion in which new express lanes are built on a raised structure. This allows the project to add capacity without widening the footprint at ground level, reducing potential disturbance to surrounding neighborhoods and historically significant places such as McCrorey Heights and Pinewood Cemetery. While more costly, this design minimizes land intrusion in sensitive areas.
Elevated Option
These design differences shape the core of the community discussion. Some residents fear that any form of expansion could add to long-standing impacts that past transportation projects imposed on nearby historic neighborhoods. Others counter that I-77 already generates significant congestion, noise, and safety concerns, and that leaving the roadway unchanged would allow those problems to worsen. They see modernization, especially through a design that avoids outward widening, as a chance to address existing issues while accommodating future growth. Both perspectives reflect the reality that I-77 already influences daily life along its corridor, and the choices made now will shape how those effects evolve.
No final alignment or construction method has been selected, and all materials released so far are preliminary. NCDOT will continue refining designs as it reviews community feedback and completes environmental analysis. Construction remains years away, and no properties have been identified for acquisition.
More information, including all preliminary maps, can be found on NCDOT’s project page:
https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i-77-south-express-lanes/Pages/project-maps.aspx
Article written by Daryna Maznytska