Eight road projects in the Charlotte area, including the I-85 interchange at Brookshire Boulevard, have been picked in the state's ranking for its next 10-year construction plan, staff of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization, the region's transportation planning agency, told its board Wednesday, Oct. 21.
They were chosen in what the N.C. Department of Transportation calls its "regional impact" category, one of three tiers it uses to rank transportation projects. They are:
- I-85 at Brookshire Boulevard (N.C. 16), interchange improvements, Charlotte
- W.T. Harris Boulevard (N.C. 24) at Grier Road, more capacity through a new intersection design, Charlotte
- I-485 at N.C. 51 (Pineville-Matthews Road), interchange and N.C. 51 improvements, Pineville
- N.C. 51 at Idlewild Road, intersection improvements, Mint Hill
- N.C. 73, widening from Business N.C. 16 to Vance Road Extension and Beatties Ford Road, Huntersville
- U.S. 601, widening from U.S. 74 to the Monroe Expressway, Monroe
- Oak Ridge Farm Highway (N.C. 150), widening from N.C. 115 to Park Avenue, Mooresville
- N.C. 115 at Shinnville Road, turn lanes, Mooresville
The state's draft 2028–2037 plan is due in winter 2027, and it will then go out for public comment.
More division money than last round
NCDOT also sets aside money for new projects chosen within each of its 14 highway divisions. As of Sept. 21, it estimates $41 million for Division 10, which covers Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Stanly and Anson counties, and $0 for Division 12, which covers Iredell and five other counties.
Both are up from the last round, when the state's 2024 figures put both divisions below zero. Projects had to be pulled from the plan then, said J. Travis Johnson, a project manager with the planning organization. With Division 12 at zero rather than below it, he said, "the existing projects will all get to stay."
The next round of ranking, which was to start as this one wraps up, will wait a year, until summer 2028. Johnson said the extra year would let the state improve its project database and could leave more money to hand out, because the plan that round produces will cover an additional year.