Two decades ago, Ridgeview Road was a humble gravel road in western Lenexa. By 2020, a $30 million extension transformed it into a path of opportunity for 600 acres of all types of development.

The area around the Kansas Highway 10 and Ridgeview interchange now is awash in projects either under construction or approved.

News that Panasonic Ltd. is bringing a $4 billion, 4,000-job EV-battery plant down the highway undoubtedly will increase interest in the intersection. But the megaproject isn’t what triggered the current activity.

“There was natural growth that was coming this way, whether it’s one plant or several companies over five to 10 years from now,” Lenexa Mayor Mike Boehm said. “A boom of development was probably going to happen on the K-10 corridor anyway.”

The rise of the K-10/Ridgeview area began to the south, in Olathe. The Johnson County Gateway project led to upgrades along Ridgeview between College Boulevard and K-10. Officials celebrated the completion of a new interchange at Ridgeview and K-10 in mid-2015 at the site of a nearly completed Olathe Convention Center.

Growth continued on the Olathe side of K-10 with plans for what’s now the Garmin Olathe Soccer Complex and the accompanying Ridgeview Marketplace.

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