More than a dozen projects are proposed for Johnson County roads as part of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s long-term planning as part of CIRCLE 2050. Submitted graphic
Efforts to update the Indianapolis region’s transportation plans for future needs are progressing.
This includes about 17 road projects that are either proposed by local communities or expected to impact Johnson County drivers.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, the federally designated regional planning organization for Central Indiana, is updating its long-term metropolitan transportation plan, dubbed CIRCLE 2050 — Central Indiana: Reflect, Create, Lead and Excel. The effort is a 25 to 30 year look ahead at transportation with a goal to anticipate what communities might need to ensure their transportation system is safe and efficient, said Jen Higginbotham, a principal planner at IMPO who is managing the project.
About the plan
CIRCLE 2050 will include updated goals, information about regional transportation trends and projections and an updated list of proposed major transportation projects through 2050 and beyond, according to IMPO. The process to update the transportation plan began in summer 2023, and since then there have been public surveys and focus groups involved, Higginbotham said.
These transportation plans, which are required, are helpful because they allow officials to think about how all the different forms of transportation interconnect. It also allows planners and officials to think about ways to address congestion, if the topic is deemed a high priority for the region, Higginbotham said.
“Our plan in particular has a few elements that feed into other things that the metropolitan planning organization does, so it includes things like goals and objectives and strategies,” she said.
For CIRCLE 2050, the specific focus is on what the IMPO can do to try to accomplish and work toward their goals and objectives. They have spending goals, for example, as the IMPO receives federal funding that is then distributed to the counties, cities and towns that are their members. These funds are used to help assist communities with funding their transportation projects, Higginbotham said.
“Those can range in size; they can be like bridge replacement project, it could just be updating the signals at an intersection, or it can be an entirely new stretch of roadway,” she said. “So there’s a lot of different things that we fund. We also fund bike-ways and we support some transit infrastructure funding — like buying vehicles for transit, stuff like that.”
Their spending goals allow them to answer questions about what should be funded. Questions include how much should the region be spending to invest back into roadways, building and expanding them, replacing bridges or adding bicycle or pedestrian transit. These goals are then used as the IMPO decides what projects to fund in the future, Higginbotham said.
Local projects
Projects from across the IMPO’s eight counties— Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan and Shelby counties — are included in CIRCLE 2050. There are 17 Johnson County-related projects proposed in the plan.
Examples of the projects include widening Smith Valley Road to four lanes from Grassy Creek Lane in Greenwood all the way to the Interstate 69 interchange, widening Stones Crossing Road to two lanes from State Road 135 to Honey Creek Road, and widening County Road 144 to four lanes from the I-69 interchange to State Road 135, according to the proposed project list. Half of the Smith Valley Road project, along with all the County Road 144 project, are Johnson County-sponsored projects, while the rest of the Smith Valley Road project and the Stones Crossing Road project are sponsored by Greenwood.
Other projects are new roads, including one from Paul Hand Boulevard and U.S. 31 to County Road 500 North and County Road 300 East — a Whiteland project, and an extension of County Road 450 East south of Greensburg Road that will connect to Old U.S. 31 south of Franklin — another county project.
All of these projects are conceptual, and no funds have been allocated yet.
Next steps
A public comment was recently held on the proposed project lists. The comments will be used to score what projects should be funded sooner, rather than later. For the MTP, officials focus on the major projects that expand or build new roads, Higginbotham said.
Scoring criteria includes the classification of the road— how used it is and how important the connection is — along with how at risk they are for being damaged by a flood or tornado, if the project will ease congestion, if the project will get people to where they are going faster and if its connected to a activity center, like a shopping center or a town center, Higgenbotham said.
“If the project is near those [centers], it can get some points because it’s connecting people to those areas that are already developed and active,” she said.
Other ways projects can earn more points are if they have a higher functional classification and if they are connected to the regions freight network, Higgenbotham said.
Once the scoring criteria is determined, planners go through each of the projects and rank them, also putting them in “fiscally-constrained” time periods. For the public comment period, the IMPO wanted to get the projects out to the public before scoring so they could forward any comments they have to the project’s respective community, she said.
IMPO did receive some comments about the projects, which have since been shared with communities, Higginbotham said.
Once scoring is complete, IMPO will work on finishing up their strategies and the plan. Around late August and through September, there will be a 30-day comment period for the public to give feedback on the draft of the whole plan, she said.
To learn more about the CIRCLE 2050 plan, go to indympo.org/whats-underway/circle-2050.
AT A GLANCE
CIRCLE 2050 Johnson County Projects
Here’s a look at projects proposed for Johnson County as part of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s CIRCLE 2050 metropolitan transportation plan update. All of these projects are conceptual, and no funds have been allocated at this time.
This list is organized by project sponsor:
Greenwood
Main Street — Two segments: 1) Widening the road to four lanes from Graham Road to Combs Road; 2) Widening the road to four lanes from Combs Road to Five Points Road.
Smith Valley Road — Widening the road to four lanes from Grassy Creek Lane to just west of State Road 135 (city limits).
Stones Crossing Road/Worthsville Road — Two segments: 1) Widening the road to four lanes from State Road 135 to Honey Creek Road; 2) Widening the road to four lanes from Honey Creek Road to Averitt Road.
Whiteland Road — Widening the road to four lanes from Saddle Club Road to State Road 135.
Indianapolis DPW
County Line Road — Widening the road to four lanes from Wood Creek Drive to State Road 135.
Johnson County
Clark School Road — Constructing the road from Franklin Road/County Road 400 East to east of Harvey Road/County Road 600 East.
County Road 144 — Two segments: 1) Widening the road to four lanes from Interstate 69 to Whiteland Road; 2) Widening the road to three lanes from Whiteland Road to State Road 135.
County Road 450 East — Extending the road south from Greensburg Road to Old U.S. 31.
Frontage Road — Extending the road from Stones Crossing Road to Olive Branch Road and Mullinix Road.
Mullinix Road — Extending Mullinix Road from Smith Valley Road to Wakefield Road/Bluff Road.
Smith Valley Road — Three segments: 1) Widening the road to four lanes from Mullinix Road to Morgantown Road; 2) Widening the road to four lanes from Morgantown Road to Peterman Road; 3) Widening the road to four lanes from Peterman Road to Restin Road.
Whiteland
New road — Building a new road from County Road 400 North/Paul Hand Boulevard & U.S. 31 to County Road 500 North & County 300 East.
