Planning commission backs Carnap updates, changes Edgerton Road designation after resident concerns

The Johnson County Planning Commission voted Oct. 28 to recommend that the Board of County Commissioners adopt updates to the county's Comprehensive Arterial Road Network plan with two modifications: removing a proposed future type-1 route near 119th Street west of Astra Enterprise Park and changing Edgerton Road's designation from a planned type-3 four-lane to a type-3, two-lane for the segment from 140th Street south to roughly the county line (200th/215th area). The commission added a recommendation asking the BOCC to consider funding a follow-up study of alternate north'south alignments; staff cautioned no budget currently exists for that study.

The recommendation follows a presentation by Kip Strauss, vice president at HNTB Corporation, who said the study used a Mid-America Regional Council/KDOT travel demand model and a 2060 low-intensity land-use scenario to forecast traffic as redevelopment at the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (now Astra Enterprise Park, or AEP) proceeds. Strauss said the modeling showed the greatest traffic growth on a new north'south connector through AEP and on nearby corridors, with model runs indicating future daily volumes near the AEP connector as high as about 33,000 vehicles a day. "Traffic growth is greatest along north'south…