It’s time for Josh Stein to be a leader on the I-77 toll lane mess | Opinion
The ongoing controversy over the I-77 toll lanes expansion project has been a clash between many different entities: local leaders, state transportation officials, the legislature.
But one key leader has yet to play a significant role: North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein.
Stein has weighed in on the project — to an extent. He supported the original decision to pause the project back in March, and expressed discontent with a budget provision designed to threaten Charlotte and neighboring municipalities into reviving the project. But he has not taken a position on the toll lanes, nor has he commented directly on the decision to reject them.
Now that the state budget has officially become law, the threat that Stein criticized is a reality. Those who voted to kill the project, including Charlotte, must reimburse the state for the $60 million it already spent on the project, or funding for other transportation projects will be withheld. The provision includes a 90-day window for the Charlotte region to reverse its decision before facing consequences. It’s a punitive measure designed to retaliate against local governments that exercised their authority to change course, and it’s wrong.
But there may be a way out. The provision specifically states that any “unilateral action” to cancel a transportation project will require repayment, and it appears to leave it up to the N.C. Department of Transportation to “determine whether a removal constitutes unilateral action.” That may give the NCDOT the ability to say that the decision to kill the project was not one-sided, which would spare Charlotte from the consequences. Given the level of community opposition to the project, NCDOT could even concur that it doesn’t make sense to move forward, which would make it less of a unilateral decision.
When asked about his position on the future of the toll lanes or what he thinks NCDOT should do moving forward, Stein’s office referred to his past statements criticizing the General Assembly’s threat and calling for a “collaborative and locally driven” process. But as governor, he can have some influence here. NCDOT is a cabinet-level agency within the Executive Branch, and the transportation secretary reports to him. Stein and NCDOT will have to review the budget provision and existing state law to see what legal authority they have in this situation, but if the matter does fall in NCDOT’s hands, Stein should side with Charlotte and ask his department to do the same. That would give Charlotte and its neighbors the freedom to choose the best path forward without threats or unfair consequences.
Of course, doing so may require taking a politically uncomfortable position. While residents and a majority of local leaders don’t want to see the toll lanes expanded, the business community does and would like to see the decision revisited. It’s a dynamic that Charlotte Mayor Robert Harrington is cautiously navigating, and he’s been similarly noncommittal thus far. We know that Stein sometimes likes to play it safe with combustible issues, too. As attorney general, he should have more proactively counseled against UNC’s terrible Silent Sam settlement, but didn’t. As governor, he has been moderate and pragmatic, especially with his vetoes. Sometimes, that’s exactly who North Carolina needs him to be. But in this moment, Charlotte needs him to be someone else. There’s a leadership void in Charlotte, and while Harrington will try his best to fill it, he’s only been mayor for two weeks. He may not be able to bridge the gap on his own. At the very least, Stein should call NCDOT and Charlotte leaders together to get to a solution.
It’s possible that Stein is reticent because he doesn’t want to assert his will onto what he believes should be a local decision. But NCDOT’s involvement makes it a state decision, too, and no matter how much Stein avoids inserting himself into the situation, the public may associate him with it anyway. Just ask former Gov. Pat McCrory, who was punished at the polls for an equally controversial toll lanes project in the I-77 corridor north of Charlotte 10 years ago. McCrory believed it was local leaders who should determine the project’s fate and chose not to intervene, which allowed the project to move forward despite community objections. It was likely one of the reasons he did not win reelection in 2016. Unlike McCrory, Stein shouldn’t be reluctant to step in. He should lead.
Stein did not create this problem, and he is not solely responsible for solving it. But his administration is in the middle of it, whether he wants to be or not. This fight has gone on long enough, and it’s headed in the wrong direction. Stein should say so, and pursue any paths that are legally available to help end it.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten covers politics and the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "It’s time for Josh Stein to be a leader on the I-77 toll lane mess | Opinion."
