Road assistance to be offered in toll-lane construction zone

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — I-77 Mobility Partners now has trucks to help keep drivers safe if their trucks break down, or if they need to report debris along Interstate 77.

I-77 drivers said they're looking forward to anything that'll make this stretch of the interstate safer.

"I think it's the best thing that they could come up with in this situation that they are currently in," motorist Debra Hopkins said.

I-77 Mobility Partners will have two trucks driving on a 26-mile stretch during the day and one at night.

There will also be a fleet of other vehicles, workers and a building on W.T. Harris Boulevard with a mission to keep drivers out of harm’s way and keep the road clear.

"Stranded motorists, debris in the roadway, calls that would take a trooper off the roadway from handling other calls for service,” Trooper Ray Pierce said.

Channel 9 has been covering an increase in crashes in the toll construction zone. There were 400 crashes there last year alone.

The new fleet will help in the construction zone on the I-77 toll lanes that started ramping up months ago.

Chew Le, who said his wife knows the struggle of driving in the toll lane construction, said they should have done something about it sooner.

The I-77 Mobility Partners roadside assistance is a part a contract between Cintra and the state. I-77 Mobility Partners officials couldn't tell Channel 9 why the program wasn't rolled out earlier.

Motorists in need of assistance can dial *SHP starting in October.

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