Widen I-77 will hold a town hall-style event to give their response to Mercator Advisor’s preliminary report on the I-77 toll lane project. Kurt Naas, the group’s spokesman, said the Mercator report is significant enough to warrant a special meeting. The meeting Thursday will consist of a twenty minute presentation followed by an extended question-and-answer session. Mercator was hired by Gov. Roy Cooper’s Department of Transportation to study the impact of terminating the 50-year agreement with Cintra, changing the $655 million contract, or buying the toll lanes entirely and the right to collect toll revenue. Mercator is expected to give the DOT a range of the possible penalties for changing the contract at the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization meeting Wednesday night.

Widen I-77 has been evaluating the project and finding problems with the contract for almost five years.  It is because of the public outcry in the Lake Norman area that the study was commissioned. The public, elected officials, candidates and the media are invited to attend. A former member of the town’s Transportation Advisory Board, Naas filed last week to run for the Cornelius Town Board.