The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-64, I-65, I-69, I-70, I-74, I-80, I-90, I-94, and. The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis, along with its historical status as a major railroad hub, and the canals that once crossed Indiana, are the source of the state’s motto, the Crossroads of America. There are also many U.S. routes and state highways maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation.
A $3 billion project extending I-69 is currently underway. The project was divided into six sections, with the first four sections, linking Evansville to Bloomington, now complete. The fifth section, between Bloomington and Martinsville, is currently under construction, while the sixth and final phase to Indianapolis is in planning.
Flag of Indiana:
To commemorate the state’s 1916 centennial anniversary, the Indiana General Assembly issued a resolution to adopt a state flag. At the request of the General Assembly, a contest was sponsored by the Indiana Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution to design a flag to serve as the official state banner. As an incentive to increase the number of submissions, the contest offered the winner a one hundred dollar cash prize. More than two hundred submissions were received and examined by the Society before a winner was selected. The entry created by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, Indiana, was ultimately chosen as the winner of the contest and the cash prize.
On May 31, 1917, the flag was chosen as the state’s official banner. The General Assembly made only one change to Hadley’s original design: they added the word Indiana, in a crescent shape, over the top of the torch. The state banner was later renamed the state’s flag in a new statute passed in 1955 that also standardized the dimensions of the flag.
The flag consists of a gold torch that represents liberty and enlightenment; the rays around the torch represent their far-reaching influence. The nineteen stars represent Indiana’s place as the nineteenth state to join the United States. The thirteen stars in the outer loop symbolize the original Thirteen Colonies, the five inner stars represent the next five states added to the Union, and the one large star above the torch represents Indiana.
State Nickname:
For well over a century and a half the people of Indiana have been called Hoosiers. It is one of the oldest of state nicknames and has had a wider acceptance than most.
It is known that Hoosier it came into general usage in the 1830s. John Finley of Richmond wrote a poem, “The Hoosier’s Nest,” which was used as the “Carrier’s Address” of the Indianapolis Journal, Jan. 1, 1833. It was widely copied throughout the country and even abroad. Finley originally wrote Hoosier as “Hoosher.” Apparently the poet felt that it was sufficiently familiar to be understandable to his readers. A few days later, on January 8, 1833, at the Jackson Day dinner at Indianapolis, John W. Davis offered “The Hoosher State of Indiana” as a toast. And in August, former Indiana governor James B. Ray announced that he intended to publish a newspaper, The Hoosier, at Greencastle, Indiana.