Costly Toll-Lanes Project On Charlotte Loop Road Delayed May 10, 2021 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials say work on a $346 million toll-lanes project on an interstate loop road around North Carolina’s biggest city is running well behind schedule. State highway officials said during a recent public meeting of a North Carolina Turnpike Authority committee that the opening of those lanes on I-485, originally planned for fall of 2022, now faces a delay of up to two years, a news outlet reported “Wow!” one committee member could be heard blurting out in the meeting. The project will add an express toll lane in each direction for a stretch of the road and a general-purpose free lane along an often-bottlenecked stretch, a news outlet previously reported.