MATTHEWS On a quiet weekday evening, topless dancers at Tassels Cabaret in Matthews hand the disc jockey their song lists, waiting for the night's first customers.

Just across U.S. 74 and up the road sits a growing house of worship, Team Church, which welcomes about 1,500 people a week.

The strip club and the church share something in common: They are among groups that could benefit from the Monroe Connector-Bypass after the $950 million toll road opens.

They sit near Interstate 485 and what will be one end of the 19.7-mile state road aimed at easing congestion on U.S. 74 in Union County. The Charlotte region's first modern toll road could debut in 2015, depending on the outcome of a legal challenge from environmentalists.

Team Church lead pastor Kenny Hibbard said the bypass will help his congregants get to the 60-acre complex faster.

When asked about the strip club benefiting too, he chuckled and said, "That's not a place we frequent or agree with the nature of their business." But Hibbard expects the club and others along the corridor to see a boost in business.

Still, he calls the bypass a mixed blessing.

Hibbard knows some nearby businesses worry about losing access to U.S. 74 when the road comes. Other shop owners remain irate that the project has left their livelihoods in limbo.

Not Tassels, the latest incarnation of a small, decades-old strip club on the Mecklenburg-Union County line.

Club manager and dancer Audrey Hansen looks forward to additional exposure from the bypass, saying, "It will increase traffic and customer walk-ins."

Some will see benefits

Others are counting on the bypass too.

Wingate University is building a $5 million education center in Matthews that will open in 2013. The school is counting on its student population to increase once the bypass arrives.

Favored by truckers and commuters alike, U.S. 74 runs from the mountains to the coast. At its busiest stretch, the path of the future bypass sees 57,000 vehicles a day, average annual daily traffic calculations show.

Organizers of a planned 5,000-acre business park in Marshville call the bypass vital for their project to succeed.

And Hendrick Automotive Group is planning a 230-acre, 16-dealership auto mall near the strip club and Central Piedmont Community College's Levine Campus.

The bypass completion date is one of the factors that will dictate timing of the auto mall construction, Hendrick said. While that site was chosen independent of the bypass route, Hendrick cited several ways the bypass will help area businesses, including improving roadway safety, congestion and business access.

Some in the right of way

Jerry Oliver has been ready to retire for several years now.

The 71-year-old owner of a Stallings used car lot and salvage yard is itching for the state to buy his land, which is in the bypass right-of-way. Attempts to sell the U.S. 74 site to others have fallen through, and he has no idea when the state will move on his property.

"It's frustrating. And my wife's been tore up over it for years," Oliver said.

A neighboring shop, Discount Tire and Auto, also is in the right of way. It has steadily lost customers concerned about a business that will not be there one day, owner Rick Strawn said.

"So far, (the bypass) has done nothing but cost me," he said. "I don't know what to do."

Unlike Oliver, Naru Patel is in no hurry to see the bypass completed. He owns the 72-room Country Inn and Suites in Matthews across the highway from Tassels.

Patel is upset that the state is ending his access to U.S. 74 from Independence Commerce Drive, and pushing access farther down the road.

That will make it harder for people to reach the hotel, Patel said, and could scare off 30 to 40 percent of his business. "Hopefully, we won't have to shut down."

Access roads need to be closed because of safety concerns for slow-turning cars and their proximity to I-485 and the bypass service road ramps, the N.C. Turnpike Authority said.

Road awaits judgment

It's unclear when the long-sought road's legal limbo will end.

Three environmental groups claimed an environmental impact study was biased toward building the road and failed to seriously consider cheaper alternatives. The state won't proceed with financing or construction until a federal judge decides the case, likely in late summer or fall.

The bypass is projected to cut travel time by 17 minutes for drivers avoiding 26 traffic lights on U.S. 74. The road begins along U.S. 74 near I-485 and the Mecklenburg County line, goes briefly east and then roughly parallels U.S. 74 until it reconnects with that highway just west of Marshville.