Free Republic

North Carolina officials are trying to figure out how to unwind parts or all of a 2014 public-private partnership that is building managed toll lanes on a Charlotte-area highway.Ever since the ink dried on North Carolina’s first transportation P3 contract, the plan to relieve severe congestion in the Charlotte region has generated controversy.Public opposition remains just as fierce today to the project that will add express lanes on Interstate 77, even though more than one report says the deal with I-77 Mobility Partners LLC, a consortium led by Cintra Infraestructuras S.A., was properly authorized and permitted.The 26-mile-long project is designed...

A challenge to the state's I-77 toll lane was denied by the N.C. Court of Appeals today.The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel upheld a lower court, which had dismissed a citizen group's attempt to stop the public-private project in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties.This was a big political issue in the 2016 governor's race, costing Pat McCrory a lot of votes in those counties. As a legal issue, the opposition doesn't seem to have much gas.I-77 from Charlotte to Mooresville is a traffic nightmare. To address the congestion, the state's DOT in 2014 signed a contract with a Delaware LLC...

Last year, an outcry from voters forced the legislature to back off the idea of putting tolls on Interstate 95. This year, Jones Street is trying again. This time it’s on I-77 in Mecklenburg County. more...

Virginia will increase speed limits to 70 mph on 680 miles of interstates by the end of the year. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell announced the change Wednesday. It will affect interstates located in areas that are rural or less populated. It includes segments of Interstate 66, from Faquier County to Interstate 81 and Interstate 95 from south of Fredricksburg to Ashland and from Prince George County to the North Carolina border. The Virginia Department of Transportation outlined the plan at a meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board on Wednesday. State officials said in a statement that the change should help...

CHESTER COUNTY -- From somewhere in a part of her 58-year-old body – undiscovered before Monday and hopefully never to be needed again – Rosa Caldwell found strength. “Before that,” she said, “the only words I could call out was, ‘Help me, Jesus.’ ” The 13-year-old Plymouth in which she was riding, with her good friend Deloise Clawson, had just smashed into a concrete barrier dividing the traffic on Interstate 77. Deloise Clawson, left, and Rosa Caldwell survived a crash on I-77 that killed a truck driver. Clawson was driving southbound on I-77 – after the pair had finished their...

While this may be a vanity, I believe it is another chapter in a growing trend of government to prey on its citizen subjects to add to their coffers.Yesterday, while returning home from a Christmas visit to relatives, my daughter was picked up on I-77 just north of the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel.She is 24, a cautious driver and never had a speeding ticket before. I'm 54 and have had only one, when I was slightly younger than she is now.The circumstances of the ticket are suspect. She was passing a semi-trailer going in the 50's on a steep downhill...

1:54 a.m. The Wythe County Sheriff’s Office says Interstate 77 between Wytheville and West Virginia has been shut down due to the weather, and accidents blocking the highway. All other traffic on I-81 and I-77 is moving slowly with only one lane of traffic open. National Weather Service says Roanoke has received a foot of snow. Blacksburg at 11.2 inches. VDOT says multiple sections of Interstate 81 are not moving, on both the northbound and the southbound side from Rockbridge County through Wythe County .