Elizabeth Mata bought 94 acres in Wake County in 1973. When the NCDOT filed a corridor map in 1996 for an I‑540 outer loop, 9.93 acres of her land were earmarked for a future highway, preventing any building permits for nearly two decades.
The 1987 Transportation Corridor Official Map Act let the state file such maps, declaring the marked area off‑limits for development. The law was meant to cap infrastructure costs but left thousands of acres in legal limbo, with owners unable to sell or develop until the state bought the land.
In 2016 the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in Kirby v. NCDOT that corridor maps constituted an unconstitutional taking, forcing the state to provide compensation under eminent‑domain rules. Yet the 2019 repeal of the Map Act did not retroactively nullify the restrictions, and dozens of cases still seek damages.
Mata’s lawyers argue that the map’s filing created an indefinite taking that cut her property’s value, while NCDOT counsel Howard Rhodes insists the restriction was temporary and only the period of active filing should be compensated.
The Supreme Court’s latest decision, delivered on June 5, 2026, finds that the corridor map’s effect was a permanent taking, overturning lower‑court assessments and remanding the case for a new damages trial.
The case will now be heard in Wake County Superior Court, where appraisers will present evidence to determine the exact monetary award. Mata’s family, who had planned a heritage farmhouse on the strip, now faces the prospect of a payout that reflects nearly twenty years of lost development.