Earlier this week, Mecklenburg County officials said the project would impact four greenways and 11 parks โ even completely wiping Wilmore Park off the map.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ Submissions are now open for people to share their ideas for the Interstate 77 toll lane expansion through Charlotte.
Sustain Charlotte announced a public design challenge called โReimagining 77 South: A Vision for Repairing and Reconnecting Charlotte,โ inviting residents, designers and students to imagine new possibilities for the I-77 corridor.
The initiative is meant to spark public imagination about how the corridor could reconnect neighborhoods, improve mobility for all and create healthier public spaces. It comes as the proposed I-77 South toll lane project has been temporarily paused, creating what organizers call a rare window for the community to explore alternative visions.
Earlier this week, Mecklenburg County officials said the project would impact four greenways and 11 parks, even completely wiping Wilmore Park off the map.
โInstead of adding more pavement to that road and more division and destruction in our city, we would ask the people of Charlotte and beyond to create a vision,” Shannon Binns said.
Binns, founder and executive director of Sustain Charlotte, said the challenge asks people to think about how infrastructure could repair past harm.
โFor decades, highways built through cities divided neighborhoods and limited opportunity,โ Binns said. โThis challenge invites local residents to imagine what it could look like to repair past harm and reconnect our communities, as so many other cities have already begun to do.โ
The current I-77 expansion plan includes elevated lane options with tolls to help with congestion.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation agreed to pause the project until June to listen to residents more, but it has not promised any major changes.
โMost people are going to be on the bottom. Most people can’t afford to ride at the elevated lane. Pay 10, $12 per day, you know, going in each direction,” McCrorey Heights Neighborhood Association President Sean Langely said. โIt’s going to be expensive traffic.โ
He’s in support of Sustain Charlotteโs challenge, encouraging people to submit their own designs for the I-77 corridor.ย
County officials presented the environmental impacts of the current plans Tuesday, which Binns called โdestructive.โ
โIt will have massive impacts on our streams and water quality, because more pavement means more stormwater runoff,” Binns explained.
But the deadline to submit ideas is coming up fast. Langley says the pause until June is a start, but not enough time โ especially without a guarantee the state will change course.
โIf it’s not the final design, then why tell us that you’re going to have to go with an elevated toll option?โ he said.
Ideas may include freeway caps or tunnels, parks and greenways, new walking and biking connections, restored waterways or other approaches that reconnect communities and improve quality of life.
Selected submissions from the challenge will be displayed at a free public exhibit on April 13 at the Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City during an event called โHow the Cities We Build Shape How We Live.”
Sustain Charlotte says submissions are welcome from professional and amateur designers, students, artists and community members, and hand-drawn sketches are allowed.
Contact Julie Kay at juliekay@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
