Residents who want to walk from Greenwood to Franklin or from White River Township down to Trafalgar could see the start of trails that would allow that trek in the next few years.
Johnson County Trails and Aspire Johnson County, in cooperation with the county, have developed a master trail plan which outlines how each of the county’s communities would be linked.
About 96 miles of new trails primarily for biking and walking would run along existing roadways. About 67 miles would be shared with roadways that also serve vehicles, but would have clear signs for hikers and bikers.
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One long-range idea is that a resident could walk from the north part of the county to the south using trails that connect each of the communities, organizers said.
The Johnson County Commissioners recently OK’d the trails master plan, which is the grassroots work of volunteers, county employees and Aspire Johnson County workers who conducted public meetings and sought community input.
Volunteers worked with city and county leaders and the public, and Aspire Johnson County received a $40,000 grant to hire Griffin Collaborative Designs to develop the plan, said Dana Monson, executive director of Aspire Johnson County.
When the trails will be built is still unclear, as the master plan paves the way for Johnson County Trails and Aspire Johnson County to begin applying for grants that would help fund the trails, which are generally estimated to cost about $800,000 per mile of trail, said David Hittle, Johnson County Planning Director.
“It is the presence of the plan that really opens up the whole world of trail building to us,” he said.
Finding the money to fund the trails without the master plan in place was difficult, and one of the state grants the group is going for, Next Level Trails, was unavailable unless the county had one, Monson said.
“Without having some kind of master plan, it is almost impossible to go for funding,” she said.
Trails will likely be built in stages, as the group receives some money that could be used to develop a priority section. Sections of the trail in the master plan have been ranked, said Carmen Parker, chairperson of Johnson County Trails.
Some plans with high priority include connecting Summerville Park in Greenwood to Proctor Park in New Whiteland, and then continuing the trail south to Franklin, Parker said.
Connecting the town of Edinburgh to Johnson County Park near Camp Atterbury is high on the priority list as well, as is connecting Greenwood to Whiteland near U.S. 31, Hittle said.
Master plan maps show existing Greenwood trails to the north that branch off and run south to Bargersville and New Whiteland. Bargersville trails continue south to Trafalgar, while New Whiteland trails hook up with Franklin trails to the south. Three trails in Franklin would branch south to connect Franklin to Trafalgar, Johnson County Park and Edinburgh.
Proposed east-west trails would connect Johnson County Park to Trafalgar, and Bargersville to Whiteland, according to county documents.
Some local trails may also connect to trails outside the county, and one proposed trail would run from near Clark Elementary School to Edinburgh, documents show.
Ideas for trails have been in works in Johnson County for years, but really came to fruition in the past year.
County leaders have longed wanted a community trail network, and it is consistently brought up in community conversations, Parker said.
Johnson County is built around having a vehicle, which is not always an option for some county residents, Hittle said.
The trail network will help people who do not have cars and who need other ways to get around the county, which was one of the goals when devising the master plan, Hittle said.
“There is almost nothing anyone can do without climbing into a car,” Hittle said, “and that is just not how communities should be developed.”
