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 roads of the new corridor through AEP," Strauss said during the presentation.

Karen Miller, senior planner for Johnson County, explained how Carnap is used when property is subdivided: higher Carnap types require greater minimum frontage per driveway (1,320 feet for type 3, 660 feet for type 2, 330 feet for type 1) to limit curb cuts and preserve arterial capacity. Miller said those rules protect long-term roadway capacity by restricting the number of direct driveways onto high-capacity arterials. "The roads with the most traffic in the future will have the greatest distance between driveways to reduce turning conflicts and to maintain the capacity of the road," Miller said.

A lengthy public comment period focused on Edgerton Road. Several residents who live along Edgerton urged the commission to remove or downgrade the corridor designation to avoid costly right-of-way acquisition, reduced property values, and safety impacts. Krista Wilson, who said she lives at 16240 Edgerton Road, told the commission her house is "92 feet from the center of Edgerton Road" and said residents felt excluded from prior planning steps. Becky Almeida told commissioners there are "62 homes that reside along Edgerton Road between 140th and 56 Highway" and asked how the plan would address homes that already sit within a future right-of-way. Calvin Hayden and others proposed considering Sunflower Road or alignments through less-developed areas as alternatives.

Planning staff and the HNTB consultant responded that Carnap is a policy-level plan, not an engineering alignment study, and that no roadway construction is currently scheduled. "There's no plans to build Edgerton Road to a four lane," Strauss said, adding Carnap guides future decisions and that roads are typically improved when traffic warrants them or when areas are annexed into cities. Staff said Carnap influences subdivision and driveway rules: right-of-way dedication typically occurs when property is platted, not immediately on plan adoption. Sean Pendley, planning staff, emphasized that the Karnap/Carnet map being updated was originally adopted in 1999 and revised in 2015, and that updates are done as needed (roughly every 5'10 years historically).

After discussion, Commissioner Gregory Wolf moved to recommend approval with two changes: remove the small future type-1 designation along 119th Street west of Astra Enterprise Park and designate Edgerton Road from 140th Street south to the county line as type 3, two-lane (rather than a type-3 four-lane). The commission also added a recommendation that the BOCC fund an additional alignment study to evaluate alternatives and community impacts; staff noted there is currently no budget for such a study. The motion passed on a roll-call vote: Wolf (Aye), David Pedaris (Aye), Lindsay Grise (Aye), Bridal Starrett (Aye), Steven McGank (Aye), Craig Connell (Aye), Rod Richardson (Aye); Andrew Logan abstained; Leslie Hind was absent.

The planning commission's recommendation will be considered by the Board of County Commissioners at their Dec. 11, 2025 meeting at 9:30 a.m. Staff told the commission that, if and when development proposals come forward adjacent to any arterial, traffic studies and platting processes would produce more detailed counts and permit further revisions to Carnap.

What the decision means now: the adopted Carnap update (if approved by the BOCC) changes the policy-level arterial map used in subdivision review and in guidance for future roadway planning; it does not itself commit the county to immediate acquisition or construction. Residents who raised concerns said they want additional study of alignments and impacts before final county action or engineering decisions are made. Planning staff will present related zoning and subdivision regulation work at the commission's next scheduled meeting on Dec. 16, 2025.