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Cornelius News

NC may soften deadlines to harden I-77 shoulders

April 2. By Dave Vieser. One of the signature projects which emerged from the meetings of a bipartisan I-77 local advisory group—turning the shoulders into rush-hour lanes—may be delayed.

The NCDOT has asked the state transportation board to delay pre-construction work on the $47 million project from 2020 to fiscal year 2021, which starts on July 1. The board took no action at their April 2 meeting, but a decision is likely within the next 30 days.

The project involves “hardening the shoulders,” which means making them sturdy enough to support ongoing hours of heavy—and weighty—traffic.

The new toll lanes were not built to support such traffic.

Ironically the sharp drop in traffic as a result of Covid 19 lessens the immediate need for the extra lanes anyway but the reason for this request had nothing to do with it.

Rather, “we asked for the later fiscal year to better align with the current schedule and allow planning and design work to continue beyond July 1”, said NCDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Thompson.

Actual construction was initially expected to start this spring or summer.

If the board approves the DOT request, construction would commence later in the year.

Under the proposed plan, six segments of shoulders between NC 150 in Mooresville and I-485 in Charlotte, will be hardened, then opened for rush hour traffic to relieve congestion along the heavily traveled section of the interstate which connects Iredell County with Mecklenburg County.