By the end of 2018, cars, trucks and the occasional motorcycle will be able to bypass the snarl of stop lights that has choked traffic on U.S. Highway 74 through Union County for the past two decades and travel unimpeded from southeast Mecklenburg County to near the Union-Anson county line. The impact of the Monroe Expressway, long-delayed due to environmental issues, will be huge for already booming Union County, but transformational for Anson County, which has to-date not participated in the economic growth radiating out from metro Charlotte. Beginning near the I-485 interchange, the Expressway runs 20 miles across Union County, ending just before Marshville, less than five miles from the Anson County line. The road, which will cost nearly $750 million, will charge an as-yet-undetermined toll in exchange for the opportunity to cross the county 30-40 minutes faster than is currently possible. Those minutes are critical for Anson, because they put most of the county within a one-ho