(Charlotte Observer) Taxpayers could end up paying a one-time subsidy of $25 million to $110 million to build Interstate 77 toll lanes from Charlotte to Mooresville, a state Department of Transportation official said.
“This project is not 100 percent supported by the (toll) revenues, so there will be a subsidy,” DOT engineer Barry Moose told the Lake Norman Regional Transportation Commission at its meeting last week at Mooresville Town Hall.
The meeting marked the first time a subsidy had been stated publicly before the commission, which previously endorsed the toll-lane concept.
Asked later to explain his prediction that a taxpayer subsidy will be needed, Moose backed away from the assertion, saying it’s unclear how much of a subsidy will be needed, if any.
The transportation commission’s I-77 task force endorsed the concept of high-occupancy toll lanes – or HOT lanes – in 2010.
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