To: The North Carolina State House, The North Carolina State Senate, and Governor Roy Cooper
Cancel Cintra Tolls Contract - Support HB954
Help Keep foreign company Cintra of Spain from fleecing our state and I77 road travelers! Three of their projects have already failed in three states and their own managed lanes in Spain are in Spanish bankruptcy court now! Yet NCDOT and the Governor are still pushing this plan as a "pilot." The Governor's goal is to put managed toll lanes on nearly every interstate and highway in NC to pay for roads. You can help stop this.
Despite four towns and two counties protesting the very lopsided Cintra contract to build, manage and collect rider fees for Spain, our Governor, Charlotte, and NCDOT have gone ahead at every juncture possible to ignore and defy local requests to delay, not sign, and now cancel this devastating plan for three years. No economic impact study was ever done for I77.
Yet an economic impact study was done for I-95 toll roads and that project never went through. We are being forced into guinea pigs despite the negative impact to our towns, businesses, local businesses, future growth and families. This plan was derived by Charlotte engineers for Charlotte, to drive traffic into Charlotte. The suburbs be damned. And Governor McCrory knows this and still supports this plan because it is part of his 25-year road plan.
The I77 toll road plan and contract will not fix the most congested interstate in the state! Except for about 6% of the wealthiest who will have access to it, including Lowes Corporation Headquarters, and those that can afford $2000-6000 a year in toll fees for their daily commute. The rest of the commuters, travelers, semis and local errand runners and local businesses will be trapped on the main local road (I77) with ever increasing congestion. This stretch of highway has NEVER been widened since built in 1972. And neither has the ONE single-lane optional side road to go north and south. Yet all Interstates/freeways around Charlotte have been widened to 3-5 lanes. The roads east in and beyond the Piedmont are hardly used yet have four lanes. And NCDOT is widening I40 where it s not congested. Commutes on I77 that used to take 20 minutes can now take up to 2 1/2 hours each way! Toll lanes will not fix this, they will make it worse. NCDOT is on its third draft of the actual lanes. It's been nearly two years since the contract was signed. This third draft will not allow for all to use the tolls, eats up all available right of way with "merging " lanes and will add to the congestion. Merging lanes will be coming into two lanes of I77 riddles with semis, from both the current exits merging and the new proposed merging from the left toll lanes. One expert with 35 years in road design and building, predicts an increase of eight deaths a year due to this dangerous road design. And stated our side roads don't have the capacity to absorb the added traffic from avoidance of I77.
Governor McCrory appointed Nick Tennyson as Secretary of Transportation and Ned Curran as Chairman of the NC Board of Transportation. Neither gentleman has formal training in Interstate Development. Secretary Tennyson was a former mayor. Chairman Curran is the CEO of Bissell, a developer of commercial and compact housing projects. Mr. Curran is also the Chairman of Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. This steep conflict of interest is being ignored because Governor McCrory and Ned Curran are long time friends.
Here are some facts about the I77 project:
- Cintra's lawyers wrote the contract and have also handled two bankruptcies for Cintra in the USA
- The contract is for 50 years from completion of build
- If Cintra/I77 Mobility Partners does not make enough money in tolls NC taxpayers must pay them up to $75M.
- The projected traffic fees, to sell the bonds, was and is projected to be more than Los Angeles at $34M per year. It is unrealistic. It will fail.
- NCDOT's documents state this plan will not fix congestion, and will make the evening commute longer. I77mobility Partners (Cintra's subsidiary) is marketing managed lanes will fix congestion
- Canceling the contract saves the state $331M ( minus any cancellation fees)
- the road plan will use up the limited existing right of way and will not allow for more than two Interstate general purpose lanes for 50 years
- the lanes that Cintra will build, per NCDOT diagrams, will not be strong enough for semis. The road depth will be half the depth needed with the wrong base for semi use
- Should Cintra go bankrupt and NC take the Interstate back, these new 2-4 lanes will need to be torn up and rebuilt to allow for heavier traffic such as semis
- If businesses cannot get their goods through the middle of the state, small and medium sized businesses will not come here and some may leave to Rock Hill
- Bankruptcy is highly likely as the contract was written to use a loophole for accelerated depreciation. This benefits Cintra and its investors to use the accelerated depreciation to reduce tax bills against profits
- Cintra has already sold 49.9% of the contract...
Despite four towns and two counties protesting the very lopsided Cintra contract to build, manage and collect rider fees for Spain, our Governor, Charlotte, and NCDOT have gone ahead at every juncture possible to ignore and defy local requests to delay, not sign, and now cancel this devastating plan for three years. No economic impact study was ever done for I77.
Yet an economic impact study was done for I-95 toll roads and that project never went through. We are being forced into guinea pigs despite the negative impact to our towns, businesses, local businesses, future growth and families. This plan was derived by Charlotte engineers for Charlotte, to drive traffic into Charlotte. The suburbs be damned. And Governor McCrory knows this and still supports this plan because it is part of his 25-year road plan.
The I77 toll road plan and contract will not fix the most congested interstate in the state! Except for about 6% of the wealthiest who will have access to it, including Lowes Corporation Headquarters, and those that can afford $2000-6000 a year in toll fees for their daily commute. The rest of the commuters, travelers, semis and local errand runners and local businesses will be trapped on the main local road (I77) with ever increasing congestion. This stretch of highway has NEVER been widened since built in 1972. And neither has the ONE single-lane optional side road to go north and south. Yet all Interstates/freeways around Charlotte have been widened to 3-5 lanes. The roads east in and beyond the Piedmont are hardly used yet have four lanes. And NCDOT is widening I40 where it s not congested. Commutes on I77 that used to take 20 minutes can now take up to 2 1/2 hours each way! Toll lanes will not fix this, they will make it worse. NCDOT is on its third draft of the actual lanes. It's been nearly two years since the contract was signed. This third draft will not allow for all to use the tolls, eats up all available right of way with "merging " lanes and will add to the congestion. Merging lanes will be coming into two lanes of I77 riddles with semis, from both the current exits merging and the new proposed merging from the left toll lanes. One expert with 35 years in road design and building, predicts an increase of eight deaths a year due to this dangerous road design. And stated our side roads don't have the capacity to absorb the added traffic from avoidance of I77.
Governor McCrory appointed Nick Tennyson as Secretary of Transportation and Ned Curran as Chairman of the NC Board of Transportation. Neither gentleman has formal training in Interstate Development. Secretary Tennyson was a former mayor. Chairman Curran is the CEO of Bissell, a developer of commercial and compact housing projects. Mr. Curran is also the Chairman of Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. This steep conflict of interest is being ignored because Governor McCrory and Ned Curran are long time friends.
Here are some facts about the I77 project:
- Cintra's lawyers wrote the contract and have also handled two bankruptcies for Cintra in the USA
- The contract is for 50 years from completion of build
- If Cintra/I77 Mobility Partners does not make enough money in tolls NC taxpayers must pay them up to $75M.
- The projected traffic fees, to sell the bonds, was and is projected to be more than Los Angeles at $34M per year. It is unrealistic. It will fail.
- NCDOT's documents state this plan will not fix congestion, and will make the evening commute longer. I77mobility Partners (Cintra's subsidiary) is marketing managed lanes will fix congestion
- Canceling the contract saves the state $331M ( minus any cancellation fees)
- the road plan will use up the limited existing right of way and will not allow for more than two Interstate general purpose lanes for 50 years
- the lanes that Cintra will build, per NCDOT diagrams, will not be strong enough for semis. The road depth will be half the depth needed with the wrong base for semi use
- Should Cintra go bankrupt and NC take the Interstate back, these new 2-4 lanes will need to be torn up and rebuilt to allow for heavier traffic such as semis
- If businesses cannot get their goods through the middle of the state, small and medium sized businesses will not come here and some may leave to Rock Hill
- Bankruptcy is highly likely as the contract was written to use a loophole for accelerated depreciation. This benefits Cintra and its investors to use the accelerated depreciation to reduce tax bills against profits
- Cintra has already sold 49.9% of the contract...
Why is this important?
To save my local region from economic disaster. And relieve congestion with general purpose lanes. And to keep airspace above the Interstate in the control of NC, not foreigners.