I-77 construction zone continues to see significant spike in crashes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New data obtained by WSOC-TV reveals the I-77 Express Lane project continues to be a dangerous stretch to drive during construction.

Channel 9 has been monitoring "vehicle crash data" within the I-77 Express Lane construction zone since the project began in late 2015.

[I‐77 Express Lanes work zone monitoring – 2.5 Year update]

On Thursday, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials responded to our request for new data and provided a two and a half year update that detailed their internal monitoring of the project.

The stretch of I-77 being studied for crashes matches the approximate footprint of the Express Lanes project from uptown Charlotte all the way north to Highway 150 near Lake Norman.

The latest analysis, written by Brian Murphy, a safety planning engineer with NCDOT, offers a matter of fact assessment of the situation.

"There does appear to be an increase in crashes since the work on this project began," Murphy summarizes.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Lawmakers pass transportation bill without addressing I-77 tolls project
• Audit: NCDOT followed all laws when awarding I-77 tolls contract
• Just how expensive will I-77 tolls be?
• Advocates for plan to stop I-77 toll project say progress being made

The document reveals the most common types of crashes, both before and during construction, are congestion-related.

Those crashes include "low-speed" rear-end crashes and sideswipe accidents that happen while changing lanes.

Congestion-related crashes make up more than 80 percent of all crashes, according to the report.

There have been 4,650 total crashes along that corridor in the two and a half years since the start of construction.

The data is recent as of the start of May 2018.

Crashes per year are increasing

The data also breaks down crashes per year.

That corridor averaged 1,150 crashes per year in the three years before construction started.

The same stretch of I-77 is now averaging 1,860 crashes per year during construction.

Those numbers represent a 62 percent increase in crashes per year compared to the three years prior to construction beginning.

Crash-type breakdown

Crashes are broken down into three broad categories: sideswipe crashes, fixed object crashes and rear-end crashes.

During the past two years and a half years, sideswipe crashes have increased 113 percent.

Fixed object crashes are up 99 percent and rear-end crashes increased 52 percent.

Channel 9 continued digging for data answers and asked NCDOT to compare the I-77 construction zone to other high-profile interstate work zones.

Our investigation found the increased I-77 crash rate during construction is comparable to other similar interstate projects.

We also learned that severe injury crashes have not increased within the I-77 construction zone, due to the low-speed nature of the crashes.

So why is this happening?

A related report obtained by Channel 9 suggests the increase in crashes "can be accounted for by having a reduced cross-sectional footprint in the work zone.

In other words, there are fewer lanes and more narrow lanes that lead to more congestion.

Ultimately, the data shows more congestion leads to crashes.

Cox Media Group