CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The crawling traffic the Queen City is used to is coming from the project on Interstate-77 that's supposed to get rid of it.
The I-77 tollway project was originally supposed to be done in January of this year, but more work was added and with it, more time.
The hard deadline is Thursday, October 31. The state's department of transportation said construction will not be done by then, and "NCDOT is currently reviewing requests for additional time, but no decisions have been made."
The contractor that is doing the work could be fined $10,000 each day the project isn't done. Those who drive on the highway say they're already paying for it.
Michelle Ferlauto, like many others, wonders why crews are slow to finish.
"Why? That's the question everybody should be asking is why it's not going to be completed," Ferlauto said.
Ferlauto is a part of Lake Norman Transportation Safety Partnership, a local go-to for keeping the project in check.
"Enough is enough," Ferlauto said. "You need to start fining them. It's not fair that you've put us in this position that we are assuming all the risk of this project."
Those safety risks include ghost lanes, where new lines blend in with old markings.
"Ghost lanes have been a concern for years," Ferlauto said. "Why they are still an issue and why it's not being done differently at this point in time, is just really beyond my level of understanding."
WCNC NBC Charlotte reached out to the contractor for the project. As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, they have not responded.
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