NCDOT's $249M Project Widens NC Hwy. 150

NCDOT's $249M project widens NC Hwy. 150, replaces I-77 bridge, adds Lake Norman bridge to reduce congestion and accommodate future traffic. Project started in 2025 and will finish in 2030. Includes reduced conflict corridors, bike lanes and multi-use pathways.

April 22, 2026 - Southeast Edition #9
Lori Tobias – CEG Correspondent

NCDOT photo

The new bridge will be about double the existing bridge, increasing capacity from six lanes to 10.

An NCDOT project is aimed at accommodating current and future traffic volumes, and reducing traffic congestion (NCDOT photo)

The project, which began in early 2025, is a response to the growing population of the Charlotte region, the 15th most populous city in the United States. (NCDOT photo)

A $249 million project in North Carolina will widen NC Highway 150, replace a bridge over I-77 and add a new bridge over Lake Norman. (NCDOT photo)

Crews of Blythe Development, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., have begun building the substructure for the replacement bridge over I-77. (NCDOT photo)

The project is slated for completion in 2030. (NCDOT photo)

A 2017 study by the Federal Highway Administration found that reduced conflict intersections with traffic signals reduced crashes 15 percent compared to conventional intersections. (NCDOT photo)

The biggest challenge on the widening project is getting the existing utilities moved and relocated in the right spot. (NCDOT photo)

Plans for the project have been in the works since at least 2016 but were put on hold after the funds became necessary to address damage from natural disasters like Hurricane Florence. (NCDOT photo)

The project also will upgrade all the signals and infrastructure, add bike lanes and a multi-use path that connects into Mooresville. (NCDOT photo)

A $249 million project in North Carolina will widen NC Highway 150, replace a bridge over I-77 and add a new bridge over Lake Norman, all aimed at accommodating current and future traffic volumes, and reducing traffic congestion.

"The job in general is widening NC 150 from U.S. 21 in Iredell to Greenwood Road, which is just inside Catawba County," NCDOT project manager Keith Anderson told Construction Equipment Guide. "It's going to be a reduced conflict corridor that will reduce the majority of left turn movements. There'll be no left turn movements unless it's a signalized intersection. They'll be a lot of right turns out of businesses and side streets, followed by U-turns basically every 1,000 to 1,500 feet."

NCDOT photo

A traditional four-way intersection has many potential conflict points. Because drivers can go in any direction from all four approaches, the likelihood of a crash is increased.

In 2023, NCDOT's Traffic Safety Unit completed a safety study of 31 reduced conflict intersections that were constructed without traffic signals in North Carolina between 2009-17. The overall results were:

• 50 percent reduction in total crashes.

• 80 percent reduction in frontal impact crashes, which are associated with serious injuries and head-on or T-boned collisions.

A 2017 study by the Federal Highway Administration found that reduced conflict intersections with traffic signals reduced crashes 15 percent compared to conventional intersections.

The project also will upgrade all the signals and infrastructure, add bike lanes and a multi-use path that connects into Mooresville.

The biggest challenge on the widening project is getting the existing utilities moved and relocated in the right spot. A portion of the project is in the "very business friendly" area of Mooresville, Anderson said.

NCDOT photo

"We've got quite a bit of car shops and a bunch of retail, so there's really not a ton of room to build there," he said. "You have existing utilities that are in the ground or overhead. And so, with that, you kind of get those utilities bunched up into a smaller space. We're dealing with a bunch of different companies and getting all that done is a challenge."

The project, which began in early 2025, is a response to the growing population of the Charlotte region, the 15th most populous city in the United States. In 2022-2023, the region saw the third largest gain in population with 15,600 people moving to the area in just one year, according to the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

"There's new apartments, new buildings, new family homes, new town homes, going up in every direction you look," Anderson said. "We just need more ability to carry more traffic.

Crews of Blythe Development, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., have begun building the substructure for the replacement bridge over I-77.

It will be a four-phase structure going over the Interstate, Anderson said.

"The reason it's four phases is basically they have to build what will be the future eastbound portion of the bridge, then demo half of the existing bridge, then build the westbound side."

NCDOT photo

Next, they'll put traffic on the eastbound and westbound lanes of the new structure and demo the remaining existing bridge.

The new bridge will be nearly double the existing bridge, increasing capacity from six lanes to 10.

"The new 10-lane structure will allow multiple left turns going on to the Interstate and coming off of the Interstate, as opposed to right now, where there's one lane going left onto I-77 north and two going left on I-77 southbound."

The new design will reduce long queues and prevent traffic from backing up into intersections behind it."

In 2026, construction continues on the replacement bridge over I-77, and, once the permit is approved, the start of work on the bridge over Lake Norman, as well.

"That's the one that will grab the public's attention as a structure just because it's something that wasn't there before, and all of a sudden there's going to be a massive structure there that they hadn't seen before," Anderson said.

Plans for the project have been in the works since at least 2016 but were put on hold after the funds became necessary to address damage from natural disasters like Hurricane Florence.

"So, when the time finally came around for it to be awarded, and it was actually going to get started, people were just like, ‘Wow, it's really happening ... you're not just pulling our leg this time.' Everybody was really happy."

The project is slated for completion in 2030. CEG

Lori Tobias

Lori Tobias is a career journalist, formerly on staff as the Oregon Coast reporter at The Oregonian and as a columnist and features writer at the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.