Matthews Mayor John Higdon said the city of Charlotte should offer to pay financial penalties for small towns that stick with their vote to stop the controversial Interstate 77 toll lanes.
Higdon’s statement comes as the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization board will vote, again, on Sept. 23 whether or not to back the toll lanes.
If the project isn’t approved, Republican state lawmakers passed a provision in the state budget that requires local governments who oppose the project to repay the nearly $70 million in design costs the state has spent on the toll lanes. The Department of Transportation released a list of expenses last week dating back to 2018. That’s six years before the CRTPO voted in the fall of 2024 to back the state’s plan to partner with a private developer to build the toll lanes…