A coalition of local and statewide progressive organizations is calling on Gov. Josh Stein to pause the planned Interstate 77 express toll lanes project, which would expand the highway from uptown to the South Carolina line.
Groups such as the NAACP, the Sierra Club and the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition wrote to Stein, a Democrat, that the Department of Transportation is his agency, and that “whether or not the widening moves forward will be part of his legacy.”
Many westside residents say the highway expansion will encroach on their historically Black neighborhoods — echoing previous highway development and urban renewal that sliced through parts of Charlotte and other cities. The coalition’s letter said the project will be a “continuation of a pattern of injustice rooted in discriminatory decision-making.”…