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Pat McCrory, Governor of North Carolina, has plans to review the concession contract of the I-77 Express Lanes PPP project.

This announcement comes after a Cintra's subsidiary filled for Chapter 11 protection​ in Texas because it was not able to repay the debt associated to the SH 130 toll road.

State transportation secretary Nick Tennyson reported in a statement:

“We were notified of the bankruptcy filing in Texas. The governor has directed us to immediately review every available option — both legal and financial — to reassess the I-77 Mobility Partners’ business model and current contract. Therefore, I will be going to Austin on Monday to meet with Texas DOT representatives to assess the situation. It is important to note that the current contract protects taxpayers from financial losses.”

According to a Cintra spokesman expects that the Texas bankruptcy will have no impact on the I-77 toll lanes. The total project investment is estimated at US$655 million, construction started in 2015 and the road is expected to be operational by 2018.

Cintra Infraestructuras was awarded the project in April 2014. Commercial closure was achieved last summer and the financial closure was achieved in May 2015. Later, in December 2015 we reported that British infrastructure developer John Laing acquired, for US$25 million, a minority shareholding in I-77 Mobility Partners (I-77 MP), the company that will develop the project.

The project includes road widening, in both directions, along 26 miles (41.8 km) of the I-77 in the metropolitan area north of Charlotte, between the junctions with the I-277 in Charlotte and the NC-150 in Iredell County. To improve traffic in one of the fastest-growing areas of the state, the existing highway will be rebuilt and capacity will be increased by creating managed lanes, subject to variable electronic tolls, which will help reduce congestion and improve traffic flow in the corridor.

The project is divided into three segments:

• on the southern segment (2.2 mi, 3.5 km), the existing section will be upgraded and two managed lanes will be built in each direction;
• on the central segment (14.9 mi, 23.8 km), the existing lanes will be upgraded and two managed lanes will be built in each direction;
• on the northern segment (8.8 mi, 14.2 km), the consortium will build one new managed lane in each direction.