I-77
Oct. 4. [Updated 10 am Oct 5] By Dave Yochum. With unusual traffic volumes on I-77 due to traffic being diverted from I-40, Cintra/I-77 Mobility Partners will put a “temporary ceiling” on tolls between Lake Norman and Charlotte.
Tropical Storm Helene devastated parts of I-40 in Western North Carolina limiting travel to the Tennessee line.
NC Sen. Vickie Sawyer
The section of I-40 closed is from Exit 20 heading west.
Bill Russell, CEO of the Lake Norman Chamber, said Sen. Vickie Sawyer and former NC Sen. Jeff Tarte, a Cornelius resident and chamber chair, were instrumental in working with NC Attorney General Josh Stein on the issue.
Gov. Roy Cooper apparently impressed upon Cintra the need to take action.
I-77 Mobility Partners said the cap was the “first step” they took earlier this week. “We have now gone further by eliminating dynamic pricing which will result in lower tolls on average for drivers who choose to use the express lanes,” said spokesman Rob Boisvert.
Details
It means I-77 Mobility Partners can put a hold on dynamic pricing. Tolls will still change throughout the day based on predetermined rates that will be lower than pre-storm dynamic pricing.
Former NC Sen. Jeff Tarte
However, by removing the traffic management provided by dynamic pricing, more drivers may choose to use the express lanes which could result in slower than usual speeds.
Trickle around effect
Russell said parallel roads like Hwy. 21, Hwy. 115 and West Catawba were unusually congested due to overflow from I-77 attributable to the I-40 closure.
An NCDOT spokesman said I-40 is going to be “indefinitely closed for the foreseeable future” because of massive washouts.
There’s no word yet on exactly what the limit will be on the toll lanes. We will update this story.
And that is not all! Verizon has announced they will waive talk/text/data usage
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/emergency-resource-center
Thanks to our leadership and companies for all these efforts to help those affected by this disaster.
Posted by Julie | October 4, 2024, 2:47 pmCintra has been robbing the local residents for years! It’s unfortunate that a natural disaster had to happen to shine a light on this. Maybe now the NC government will take a much closer look at what Cintra is doing.
Posted by Sheila | October 5, 2024, 1:27 pmYeah, that way they can still take money with their flat rate (like tolls were nearly everywhere else for decades) and appear to be concerned about an absolute tragedy. On the bright side, win/win for them. They “went further by eliminating dynamic pricing” a term their industry invented recently. Wow…what a real sport this guy is. But kudos for the genius public relations.
Posted by James Retarides | October 9, 2024, 8:17 amThe NC DOT and the Turnpike Authority are fundamentally responsible for making decision about emergency usage of the highways that are charging tolls. Focus should be placed on them. Cintra is a different issue. Policy put in place in April 2019 ought to be sufficient to empower them to better manage traffic during this crisis. That policy speaks to incidents that involve the area local to the tollway, but I suspect they are hiding behind that detail to allow them to not extend consideration to the crisis in WNC.I think we need better and more indepth on this. This ends up giving favorable light to politicians who do nothing but support the tollway. Please review vote tallies for HB 198 passed this summer.
Posted by Aaron Libby | October 14, 2024, 10:29 am