I-77’s notorious congestion near Lake Norman plagues thousands. Is there a solution?

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — If you drive on Interstate 77 during the morning or evening rush hours, your view most likely includes a lot of brake lights -- the congestion in the stretch near Lake Norman is getting national recognition, and not for a good reason.

Channel 9’s Erika Jackson found that many drivers are avoiding I-77 altogether, while other local leaders are eyeing possible solutions.

Take Mark Wabalas, who spends most of his day on the back roads near Lake Norman. He does what he can to stay away from the interstate, but the impacts don’t just stick to one corridor.

“It’s stopped enough where all the other roads are clogged up, so everything stopped, and everybody’s trying to avoid it,” Wabalas said.

He has a compelling reason to avoid I-77. The American Transportation Research Institute found that the stretch of I-77 through Huntersville is the 36th-most congested stretch of road in the entire country.

The ATRI used GPS data to track the speed and movement of freight trucks all over the country to make that ranking. The lanes north and south of exit 23, Gilead Road, are the most congested out of both Carolinas. Data shows that cars drive an average of 28 miles per hour during peak hours.

Lake Norman didn’t even make the top 100 in 2021, but ATRI rankings show congestion has only gotten worse since then.

“You don’t need a report to see that it’s completely broken. And then everybody’s sitting in traffic every single day,” said Cornelius Commissioner Michael Osborne, who is also a member of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization.

Osborne moved to the town about 30 years ago, and he has seen how commutes have changed.

“It used to be almost no one was on the roads up here, and now, obviously, you’re sitting in traffic pretty much any time of day, the roads are very congested,” Osborne said.

He says the board has discussed “hard shoulder running” through the area. That’s when the shoulder is used as an extra driving lane during peak hours.

Osborne added that he wrote a letter to the CRTPO to reconsider the need for a new exit between Huntersville and Cornelius.

“There’s simply too much merge activity in too short of a period of time. And a new exit, like at an exit 27 with extended on-off ramps between the exits, will go a long ways to not having so much congestion on and off at the same ramp,” Osborne said.

He’s adamant the biggest challenge is funding. However, he said he believes changes to existing exits could make a big difference.

“One thing that they could absolutely do is extend the on and off ramps, kind of like what you see a little bit further north at exit 31 and that will stop the sudden need for the cars to hit their brakes when people are trying to merge,” Osborne said.

Until one of those projects becomes a reality, Wabalas says he’ll continue to avoid all lanes of I-77.

“If that toll road was a lane, it still wouldn’t be enough,” Wabalas said. “It’s gotten to the point where that isn’t even going to be enough.”

We’ll keep an eye on any projects targeting I-77 congestion, including the construction of the Red Line commuter train, in the coming years.

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