The WidenI-77.org anti-toll group is holding a cook-out/fundraiser to pay for the lawsuit against NCDOT and Cintra. On Saturday from 6-9 pm, there will be an old-fashioned cook-out at Hubbard Farm, 14720 Brown Mill Road, Huntersville, just south of the intersection of Hwy. 73 and Beatties Ford Road. $10 includes burgers, dogs and fixings. RSVP: Stacy Phillips, 704-533-4685 or StacyPhillips11@yahoo.com
June 15. Cornelius commissioners are likely to give the go-ahead tonight to a $70,300 NCDOT study of the Torrence Chapel Road/West Catawba Avenue intersection. The town will pay $17,575 towards the study with the remainder covered by a state grant. The Town Board meeting begins at 7 pm, in Town Hall on Catawba Avenue. This […]
“You know, I would actually love to have Jim back. I personally think his contribution to avoiding the tolls could have been similar to the impact he had on Reval. We desperately needed the famous ‘Jim touch’ at NCDOT/CRTPO in recent months/years.” —Corenlius Commissoner Dave Gilroy on former colleague Jim Bensman Former Town Commissioner Jim […]
June 10. By Dave Yochum. While it wasn’t as strong as toll opponents had hoped, the Town of Davidson has officially expressed its concerns with the NCDOT/Cintra plan to widen I-77 with toll lanes. A resolution drafted by Commissioner Jim Fuller with input from NC Sen. Jeff Tarte passed 4-0 in front of a packed house Tuesday night. […]
June 2. By Dave Vieser. The Cornelius Town Board unanimously passed a strongly worded resolution calling on the NCDOT to terminate its contract with Spanish based Cintra/I-77 Mobility Partners to build toll lanes on I-77. The board also said it would consider joining the lawsuit filed by Widen I-77 seeking to halt the toll lanes planned […]
May 28. By Dave Yochum. Speaking at the “Emergency Call to Action” for Lake Norman business owners, UNC-Charlotte Professor Emeritus David Hartgen said plans to widen I-77 with tolls will have dire effects on traffic both on and around 77. “Your local streets are going to be crammed full. The congestion on the feeder roads and the parallel […]
ANALYSIS. May 26. An “I-77 Business Transportation Summit” will be held at Michael Waltrip Racing at 4 pm Thursday. The hosts are power brokers in the Lake Norman business, tourism and economic scene: Larry Johns, chief financial officer of Michael Waltrip Racing in Cornelius, and Richard Zulman, CEO of BestCo, formerly BestSweet, a major employer in Mooresville.The business leaders are […]
May 25. Beginning at 1:00 pm., citizens opposed to the I-77 toll lane project will convene at the lobby of the North Carolina General Assembly to hand out fliers to legislators urging them to defund the project and to support the cancelling of the $655 million, 50-year contract with the Spanish company, Cintra. From 2 […]
May 21. Amidst the backdrop of the Exit 28 Ridiculousness Facebook page whose profile picture is “Cintra Sucks Money Out Of The Local Economy,” more local business leaders are starting to speak out on their own, independent of any chamber of commerce. Indeed, a petition calling for an independent review of the now-signed 50-year deal […]
May 19. Falling in line with the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson, the Mooresville Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday night urging the state to delay closing on a project that would install hi-speed toll lanes on I-77 through the Lake Norman area. So far the Governor and the NC-DOT have not been […]