MONROE — Charlotte will have an outer loop and funds to pay for it will not come from Union County.

Gov. Bev Perdue has announced a plan to complete the Interstate 485 ring and promised to not take money from Union County’s projects, specifically from the Monroe Parkway project.

“There will be no affect on the parkway,” N.C. Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Vaden said. “Funding for I-485 stands on its own.”

Transportation representatives around the county breathed a sigh of relief at the announcement.

Outgoing Monroe Councilman and Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization representative Bob Smith said that while the I-485 completion was good and would be used by some Union County drivers, the fact that funds were not taken from local projects was more important.

Smith pointed to the opening of additional lanes of U.S. Highway 601 from Hargette Road to the state line, which is scheduled for Wednesday, as having a significant impact on congestion. So, too, will the opening of the Martin Luther King Boulevard extension, which will take traffic out of downtown Monroe, he said. The first Martin Luther King Boulevard phase, from Goldmine Road to N.C. Highway 84 past Union Academy, is scheduled to open before Christmas.

When the Monroe Parkway opens, Smith said it will be one of the most significant road projects in county history. N.C. Turnpike Authority spokeswoman Reid Simons said the preferred route would be announced by the end of this week and construction would begin in less than a year.

The $349 million I-485 completion combines three projects on a fast track. Bids will be awarded in 2010 and are scheduled for completion by 2015. When finished, the final five-mile stretch of I-485, the interchange at I-85 and the widening of I-85 into Cabarrus County from four lanes to eight lanes will be completed.

“We see this as one more tool for the future that we can use when it makes economic sense, as it does in this case,” N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said in a news release. “It’s vital to have new strategies to address the state’s transportation needs in a time of scarce resources from traditional revenue sources.”

N.C. Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Anson, said it was good for the region that I-485 would be completed and was going to be “monitoring this funding mechanism closely,” so Union County projects would be safe.