With thousands more residents in the county, local schools are becoming more crowded, undeveloped land is becoming the site of new homes and businesses, making roads more congested.
Since the 2010 Census, Johnson County has remained the fifth fastest growing county in the state, growing by more than 10 percent — or 14,200 people — as of the most recent estimates in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Local growth has made up 8 percent of the state’s total growth since then, with Johnson County joining Hamilton, Boone, Hendricks and Tippecanoe counties as the fastest growing in the state, according to the Census data.
That growth is leading local governments to have to address the needs that come with more people.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryPublic school enrollment has grown by nearly 7 percent, or about 1,700 students, since 2010, leading to a need for more space. Center Grove is building its sixth elementary school, which is set to open next year. And Clark-Pleasant is looking to build its sixth elementary school to be open by the 2021-22 school year, but will need to use portable classrooms before then to keep up with enrollment growth.
Both of those areas are key areas of growth in the county, with hundreds of new homes planned in the southern Center Grove area, especially near Bargersville, and continued development of neighborhoods east of Greenwood.
Last year, more than 700 building permits were issued for homes, a nearly 20 percent increase from the year before. And that number continues to be up by about the same amount for the first two months of 2018, according to the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
Commercial building also is up, with businesses spending more than $200 million to construct new buildings or renovate existing ones in Franklin and Greenwood last year — which is more than businesses spent in the previous two years combined.
All that growth also adds more traffic to local streets, requiring repairs and improvements that can cost local governments millions.
Traffic is the single biggest indicator of the growth the county has been experiencing for years, Johnson County Commissioner Ron West said.
Congestion is a significant issue on many of the county’s busiest roads as more and more people move in and commute to and from work, schools and home, he said.
“That is the biggest awareness of the growth — the traffic,” West said.
This year, you will see orange barrels along King and Jefferson streets in Franklin, part of a multi-million project to rebuild the road in phases, along with three new roundabouts planned around the city.
And in Greenwood, one of the city’s busiest and most congested areas where Smith Valley Road, Madison Avenue and U.S. 31 meet up is getting a makeover, with a new roundabout and redirecting traffic to remove left turns and improve traffic flow in an area drivers have complained about for years.
Local officials are also looking at what to do next with some of the county’s main east-west roads, especially along County Road 144 and Smith Valley Road, when State Road 37 becomes Interstate 69.
