The proposed widening of I-77 and other road improvements associated with the half-billion-dollar Augustalee mixed-use project in Cornelius won approval from a key committee Thursday and moved on to a final vote April 29 at the regional planning group MUMPO.

The Technical Coordinating Committee of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO) gave its blessing to the $90 million in roadwork at a special meeting Thursday morning in Charlotte.

The full MUMPO membership will take a final vote on the projects at its April 29 meeting. If that passes, the projects would be officially added to the region’s long-range Transportation Improvement Plan.

The developer has said he hopes to open the first retail shops at the project, off Hwy. 21 and Westmoreland Road, in 2012. The agenda for Thursday’s meeting said the roadwork would be added to the TIP for 2013.

Besides I-77 widening, the improvements would include a new highway exit at Westmoreland Road, widening on Statesville Road/Hwy. 21, and extending Bailey Road across I-77 to Northcross Drive, and improvements on Westmoreland.

Augustalee is a $500-million-plus complex of offices, shops, hotels and luxury condos. It’s being developed by Cornelius Bromont LLC, a partnership of local investors and a Phoenix developer.

(Updated 5 p.m. Friday) In a press release Friday afternoon, Josh Rector, senior vice president of Cornelius Bromont, said: “This approval is critical for the success of our project. We must have approval at local, state and federal levels before we can begin widening the interstate and adding a new Exit 27 interchange.” (end update)

The roadwork was required as a condition of the Town of Cornelius’s approval of the Augustalee project last year. The developer has agreed to pay for the road work up front, and be reimbursed later, primarily through the increases in tax revenues the project generates.

MUMPO is a regional planning organization for the greater Charlotte region. Among its duties is to help prioritize local transportation and road improvement projects.

BACKGROUND

For more about the Augustalee project, see our recent coverage of the public workshop held in Cornelius about the improvements. (April 10, 2009, “Roadwork for Cornelius project faces key vote April 29.”)