South Carolina lawmakers are considering adding express lanes to I-77 near Charlotte — they say it’s all about keeping up with North Carolina’s progress.
YORK COUNTY, S.C. — South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would create toll lanes in congested areas, potentially including Interstate 77 near Charlotte.
Senate Bill 831 is a sweeping transportation overhaul, but the biggest talking point is the possibility of express lanes in South Carolina. Officials say it’s a response to match what North Carolina’s done with tolls on I-77 in the Charlotte area.
“We recognize you have a major municipality in the Charlotte area, you’ve got a growing municipality in the York County area,” Sen. Sean Bennett, the chairman of the South Carolina Senate Ethics Committee, said. “There’s constant flow back and forth across the border. You can’t run into a stoppage, right? You can’t have one side doing something and the other side not.”
Bennett said the proposed toll lanes won’t work for every county throughout the state. Instead, it’s primarily geared toward congested areas, such as York County.
“It provides an opportunity to get some capacity to the roadways,” he said.
Sen. Larry Grooms, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said SCDOT will be able to partner with private companies for toll lane construction. He said similar measures have proven successful in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
“We believe in the Charlotte region, we’ll be able to have the choice lanes to match up the South Carolina portion of I-77 to match up with what North Carolina is doing,” Grooms said.
The plan allows for the construction of new lanes. Existing lanes on the highway will not be tolled.
“Choice lanes would give them another option, and the idea, hopefully, is even if you choose not to utilize the choice lanes, the free lanes that you’ve been using will probably be less congested because some people are going to use that,” Bennett explained. “So, it should be a win-win.”
The bill is still making its way through the legislature, and if passed, many of these changes would take effect over the next several years.
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