Bridge Over I-77 Linking Mooresville Businesses Shelved

The Mooresville Board of Commissioners opted not to adopt the recommendations of an $85,500 study urging construction of a bridge over Interstate 77.

The 4-2 vote Monday to accept the study “as information” effectively shelved the proposal to build the bridge. Nearby landowners worried that they might be forced to foot the $9.5 million cost for the bridge and road improvements.

Mooresville developer Steve McGlothlin, whose companies own land near the interstate, used one of his companies to bankroll half the cost of a feasibility study performed by WSP Sells. The town paid the remaining half of the study’s costs.

The study faced criticism from David Hartgen, an emeritus professor of transportation studies at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Hartgen reviewed the study and concluded that the bridge would not ease traffic congestion but would improve highway access for nearby businesses at public expense.

“I think they were grabbing for low-hanging fruit on the wrong tree,” said Henry Brantly, whose family has owned land in the area since the 1700s.

The bridge would have joined Midnight Lane on the west side of I-77 to Oates Road on the east. Commissioner Thurman Houston said he remembered when a road once existed there.
“We need alternate routes to get across 77,” Houston said. “We need a way to get back and forth.”

Town officials said they didn’t have the money to build the bridge. They had talked about financing the work by setting up a special assessment district. Such a district would have required area landowners to pay for most of the project over a period of up to 30 years by placing liens on their property. If any refused to pay, the town could start foreclosure proceedings.

The district could be set up through state laws passed in 2008 and 2009. State Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, sponsored the 2009 law.

Sarah Okeson is a contributor to Carolina Journal.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to indicate that the total cost of the study was $85,500. The town was responsible for half the cost.]