Johnson County is overhauling its thoroughfare plan, which is about a decade old, with updated traffic counts and roadwork needs, re-classifying several roads that see more traffic today than they did in 2011 when the plan was created.
Updating the thoroughfare plan to better reflect the growth the county has seen, especially on the west side of the county, and what that growth has done to traffic volumes on certain roads, as well as making projections for the future, will help the county get state and federal funding that will be needed in order to make improvements to those roads, said Neil VanTrees, a county highway engineer.
A key factor is the coming construction of Interstate 69, which will transform certain neighborhoods and add more traffic to an already overcrowded State Road 135 during the construction period.
While it’s being built, traffic is expected to increase significantly on the county’s major north-south corridors, including U.S. 31 and State Road 135, which isn’t equipped to handle the volume of vehicles that are expected to use it in place of State Road 37, local officials have said.
State Road 135 is already well beyond capacity, said David Hittle, county highway director.
“It is not expected to be in a good place anytime soon, even with improvements,” Hittle said. “Even then (once Smith Valley and Morgantown roads are expanded), 135 is going to be in bad shape; not the road itself, but its ability to handle that much traffic.”
As a whole, traffic has not increased on State Road 135, according to INDOT data. There was no change in traffic volumes in 2018, and traffic volume actually fell 8 percent in 2017. But at certain intersections in Johnson County, traffic volumes are increasing significantly.
The busiest intersection in terms of traffic volume — State Road 135 and Meridian Meadow Road — grew by 17 percent so far in 2019, the most significant jump it has seen in nearly two decades. Nearly 42,000 vehicles travel through that intersection daily. Traffic at State Road 135 and Main Street increased 21 percent this year, up to 15,200 travelers daily, from 12,600 last year. Farther south, past Smith Valley Road, traffic has increased by 2 to 3 percent this year, according to INDOT.
State Road 135 is not expected to see an improvement. Traffic levels are expected to continue to rise as development continues, leading to more congestion and a lower rating for traffic flow from the state, according to a state study that was conducted last year.
The City of Greenwood asked the state to conduct a traffic study on State Road 135. Greenwood has little control of the highway, and the state has no concrete plans for projects. But officials are looking at it, and the most recent study is concluding, said Scott Manning, communications director for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
The state does plan to make some minor changes to the road during construction of I-69, such as adjusting signal timing, modernizing traffic lights, installing vehicle detection loops and other technology to improve traffic flow and adding a couple turn lanes.
“We’re cognizant that during construction, those will be two very logical detour routes,” Manning said.
But there won’t be any significant transformative infrastructure changes, he said.
And U.S. 31, south of County Line Road, still would have an overall increase in traffic, though slightly less than what was projected for 2045 without I-69, the study said.
The biggest changes in the county’s thoroughfare plan were to Smith Valley and Morgantown roads. Re-classifying those roads and others, such as by labeling them major or minor arterials, will give the county a better shot at receiving federal funding to help expand them from two lanes to four or five lanes, Manning said.
“What we did was look at all of the roads in the county and the growth that has happened over the years to make sure roads are classified the way that they should be, while also making projections for the future,” VanTrees said.
“I-69 is real. It’s funded. It’s going to happen. It’s like saying your wife is pregnant; the baby is going to be here,” VanTrees said.
“The last thing I want is for someone to move their business in somewhere, and then have to buy out a parking lot or a structure. We want to make sure when (I-69) does come in, there are planning documents available so that you have an idea of what the roadways will look like in the future.”
The interstate is built from Evansville through Bloomington and into Morgan County, and work started this year on the Martinsville leg of the project, Manning said. Johnson County is preparing for what’s to come. The Indiana Department of Transportation is still buying properties along the route, which follows State Road 37 through the northwest corner of the county, near Bargersville and in White River Township. All affected property owners and businesses have been notified, he said.
County Line Road will also see increased traffic, but the road is controlled entirely by Indianapolis. Manning and local officials said the city has had no plans to make any changes to County Line Road, which runs along the northern border of Johnson County. The state is required to make the infrastructure changes that are necessary at the interchange.
Also, once the interstate is built, traffic is expected to increase significantly on the county’s east-west corridors, including Smith Valley Road and County Road 144, which will also have I-69 interchanges.
Currently, those intersections are surrounded by farmland, gas stations and small convenience stores, along with a few, scattered residential neighborhoods to the east. But once they become interstate interchanges, they’re going to become more appealing to developers, and residents will have a say in the types of developments that go in by way of planning and zoning meetings, Hittle said.
Now that the state has started buying local land for the highway, it’s becoming more of a reality, Hittle said previously. Current plans call for construction on the Johnson County leg of I-69 to begin sometime next year.
