CHARLOTTE — The Interstate 77 toll lanes north of Charlotte have been open for several years, but while Channel 9 has heard from drivers about the high prices for tolls, the North Carolina Department of Transportation says they’ve been a success.
Ultimately, you can save time on your commutes if you spend the money. But that money can vary depending on where and when you’re going.
“I would say three or four times a week,” said Robert Brisbine, a driver who uses the toll lanes pretty regularly.
Brisbine told Channel 9 he likes having the option to get where he needs to go faster.
“If I have to make an errand into Charlotte, I know I can get in the toll lane and get there quicker and not sit in traffic,” Brisbine said.
But John Zaravelis, a business owner, has a different opinion.
“Tough times, now people can’t afford it,” Zaravelis said.
He says he used to spend about $30 a month on tolls to get to and from Charlotte. Now, he’s spending about $160.
“The only people benefit, the ones who take the money,” he said.
Price check
For months, Channel 9 has been tracking toll lane prices along the 26-mile stretch of I-77 that uses dynamic pricing. That means the cost for each stretch depends on how much traffic is in the free lanes.
Cintra, the Spanish parent company that manages the toll lanes for I-77 Mobility Partners, says more than 400,000 distinct drivers use them each month. It says that makes the “free” lanes move 30 to 40 percent faster, even though they’ve gotten 13 percent busier since before the toll lanes were built.
Still, no highway project in North Carolina has been more controversial over the last 10 years than this one. Prior to opening, a main concern of anti-toll activists was the cost. The price changes every five minutes to ensure there’s always an average minimum speed of 48 miles per hour. The more traffic in the free lanes, the higher the price. High tolls were a big fear of opponents in the run up of the project.
“Cintra is in the business to collect revenue, in this case, tolls. Questions have been raised about pricing,” said Javier Tamargo, the former head of Cintra in 2015.
Tamargo, who just rejoined the company this week as the U.S. CEO, told Channel 9 that drivers can expect to pay 20 cents to 45 cents a mile or $5 to $12 round-trip, depending on demand.
A 2012 report by NCDOT predicted that round-trip Uptown to Mooresville tolls would cost $21 a day ... doubling to $42 a day by 2035. In 2016, a report by NCDOT sought to temper those fears, saying: “Tolls at peak hour are projected to vary from 14 cents to 40 cents per mile, on average,” and that tolls “will only be as high as the market will support.”
For about a month we tracked prices each way -- between Mooresville and just outside Uptown -- during the morning and evening rush. The cheapest we found was around 5:30 p.m. It would have cost you $28.85 to go about 23 miles. That assumes you have a transponder in your car -- without one, the same trip would cost $43.
The most expensive trip was from Mooresville to Uptown around 8:15 in the morning. It was $36.85 with the transponder. Without it, that’s more than $55.
State Senator Vickie Sawyer of Iredell County says she recently paid 50 dollars to get from Mooresville into Uptown faster to a see a show. She said she’s not a fan of dynamic pricing
“I’m going to more liken it to congestion pricing, like the more congested that the road is, the higher the toll is,” Sawyer said.
In 2022, the CFO of the parent company of the toll lane project told investors how dynamic pricing sets them up for success.
“We have flexibility to increase the tariffs, we are trying to capture all the value possible, and that’s the reason that we are showing this increase in the revenue,” said José María Velao in May of 2022.
Where’s the money?
Unlike other toll projects in the state -- like the Monroe Expressway, proceeds from the I-77 toll lanes go to a private company
Former State Senator Jeff Tarte says that’s one of the project’s main problems.
“Where’s the profits going? Spain. So it didn’t even stay here,” Tarte told Channel 9.
Right now, the state is preparing to ask for bids to add toll lanes on I-77 from Uptown to the South Carolina state line. Cintra is one of the companies expected to bid, but they’re not the only one.
“There are more developers now doing this type of work,” said Carly Swanson with the NCDOT.
Swanson and Brett Canipe of NCDOT say they’ve heard the feedback loud and clear. One of the biggest changes in the new toll lane project will be a cap on prices.
“We have heard the concerns about toll rates ... it was made clear to us the need for toll rate caps,” Swanson said.
Despite the controversy and the high prices, NCDOT believes the current toll lanes on I-77 have been effective.
“We do know that the traffic volumes on the corridor have increased and the travel times on the corridor have decreased,” Canipe said.
I-77 Mobility Partners says some people can take the lanes for free. Including those with 3 or more people in a car plus a transponder, CATS riders and motorcycles with transponders.
The company declined an on-camera interview for this story.
(VIDEO: Driver says repair shop drove his car behind his back, racked up tolls)
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