News Home

By Daniel Goldberg
Record & Landmark

Iredell County is $1.5 million closer to seeing improvements in the much-maligned intersection of interstates 40 and 77.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has received a federal grant specifically for that project.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, said Tuesday that funding for the intersection was “one of my high-priority items.”

According to Foxx, the money comes from the Transportation Equity Act passed by Congress in 2005. Iredell County will receive $4 million specifically for the I-40 /I-77 interchange over a six-year period.

“We’re trying very hard to get the state to speed up this project,” Foxx said. “It’s way overdue and we know that.”

DOT Division 12 Engineer Mike Holder has called the intersection’s cloverleaf design “dangerous and outdated.”

Holder said Tuesday that the most recent cost estimate for the project - which includes the intersection of I-40 and Highway 21 - is $105 million.

It’s set to begin in 2009 by the state’s Transportation Improvement Program. Holder said that would put the intersection complete around 2012.

The grant “just means that we’re $1.5 million closer to the goal,” Holder said.

Foxx is not the only member of North Carolina’s congressional delegation taking credit for the grant. On Tuesday, a day after Foxx’s office sent out a press release, Sen. Richard Burr issued a statement announcing the same money.

“It’s important that our highways are safe and modern,” Burr’s statement read. “These funds will ensure that North Carolina’s interstates are safe and easy to access and will reduce traffic congestion in Iredell County.”

Burr was not available Tuesday for further comment.