Indiana Research

[HighwayCatGaming]

Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana, located on I-69 in the northeastern corner of the state.
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I-69 runs along the west side of Fort Wayne, while I-469 wraps around the south and east. There is some industry located near the southern junction of I-69 and I-469 (Exit 296). Just to the northeast of this junction is the Fort Wayne International Airport.
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On the west side of Exit 296 is Vera Bradley, a fashion company whose headquarters and distribution center can be seen right next to I-69.
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There is also a large commercial district along Coliseum Boulevard on the northern side of Fort Wayne.
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Another potential depot near Coliseum Boulevard is Pepsi Beverages, which operates a bottling and supplier building just south of the intersection of Coliseum Boulevard and Lima Rd. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1139444 ... FQAw%3D%3D

One additional depot in Fort Wayne could be the BF Goodrich tire manufacturing plant off US 24 just northeast of Fort Wayne.
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Another depot that could be tagged as Fort Wayne is the Walmart Distribution Center in Gas City, located near I-69 about 37 miles south of Fort Wayne.
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There are also several landmarks in Fort Wayne.
Science Central is a local science museum located just north of downtown Fort Wayne on Clinton St.
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There is also the Historic Old Fort nearby on Spy Run Ave.
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A major landmark on Coliseum Boulevard in northern Fort Wayne is the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, a large arena and event center.
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[oldmanclippy]

I drove through Fort Wayne last year, and another cool thing is that the railroad in downtown is elevated above street level which is pretty rare:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.0823907 ... FQAw%3D%3D

[HighwayCatGaming]

South Bend is a major city in northern Indiana. The city is located near the junction of I-80/90 and US 31. South Bend is best known for being the location of the University of Notre Dame.

The main building at the University of Notre Dame is topped with an iconic golden dome.
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Another notable landmark at Notre Dame is the Notre Dame Stadium.
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There is a lot of industry in the neighboring city of Elkhart. The Elkhart area is known for its RV production.
Visible from I-80/90 in Elkhart is the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum.
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There are several RV factories, warehouses, and distribution centers around the cities of Elkhart and Middlebury. Such as the Winnebago, Shasta, Jayco, and the RV Factory.
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Here's one of the Jayco Plants on the south side of Middlebury:
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Elkhart is also home to musical instrument manufacturers, most notably Conn-Selmer which has a manufacturing location on Industrial Parkway.
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Finally, the area around Middlebury and Shipshewana is also home to a large Amish population and has plenty of agriculture.
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[HighwayCatGaming]

Gary is the industrial core of Northwest Indiana, which is referred to by locals as "The Region". Gary is famous for its steel mills, which process raw iron ore into steel. The steel mills are located between I-90 and Lake Michigan.

The main steel mill in Gary is US Steel's Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in North America. Gary Works produces around 7.5 million tons of steel annually. The plant includes steelmaking and finishing facilities.
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There are other major steel mills in the region, including Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor and Cliffs Indiana Harbor in East Chicago. The Burns Harbor steel mill can be seen from Indiana Dunes National Park with its towering flame.
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East Chicago steel mill:
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There is also the nearby BP Whiting Refinery in this industrial area.
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One potential depot on US 30 in NWI would be the Albanese Gummy Bear Factory in Merrillville.
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[HighwayCatGaming]

Evansville is the third largest city in Indiana. It is a major hub in the southwest part of the state.
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One of the main industrial sites near Evansville is Alcoa Warrick Operations, a large aluminum smelter on IN 66 just southeast of Evansville. Molten aluminum from this smelter could be delivered to the Chrysler casting plant in Kokomo.
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There is also coal mining just to the northeast of Evansville. Open pit coal mines exist between Evansville and Boonville, just south of I-64.
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Some trucks can deliver coal from these mines to local power plants such as in Rockport and Madison.
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Finally, there is a large Toyota manufacturing plant on US 41 just north of I-64.
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One additional cool landmark near Evansville are the Kitchen Canister Grain Bins off IN 66, just west of Evansville.
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[HighwayCatGaming]

There are a few more medium sized cities in Indiana with some notable industry. These include Lafayette, Terre Haute, Richmond, Columbus, and Jeffersonville.

Lafayette is located on I-65 between Gary and Indianapolis.
Lafayette is best known for Purdue University, located in neighboring West Lafayette.
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Lafayette has a large Subaru plant off I-65, at Exit 168 for IN 38.
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There is also a Caterpillar Engine Plant on South St.
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Lafayette also has Tate and Lyle, which is a wet-milling plant turning corn into food ingredients.
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Lafayette has a notable retail corridor along South St near I-65 and Wabash trailers is also headquartered in Lafayette.
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Just north of Lafayette on I-65 is the Meadow Lake Wind Farm, which consists of hundreds of wind turbines visible from the highway.
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Terre Haute is located on I-70 just 7 miles from the Illinois border.
Terre Haute is known for being home to Indiana State University, not to be confused with Indiana University.
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Terre Haute has a large retail corridor along US 41 just south of I-70.
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There is also a large Staples Distribution Center south of Terre Haute.
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Terre Haute also has a Great Dane trailers plant.
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Richmond is located on I-70 next to the Ohio border.
Richmond has a lot of industry just off Exit 149 on I-70 along Williamsburg Pike and Industries Rd. Examples of industry in Richmond include Elevator Equipment Corporation, Richmond Beverage Solutions, and Hills Pet Nutrition.
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https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8530279 ... FQAw%3D%3D

Just north of Richmond on US 27 in Winchester is Ardagh glass, which produces glass bottles.
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Columbus is located on I-65 between Indianapolis and Louisville.
The main industry in Columbus is Cummins Engines.
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Columbus is known for being an architect's playground, with numerous unique architectural wonders throughout the city.
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There is this unique bridge at the intersection of I-65 and IN 46:
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And I want to bring attention to these unique bike racks in downtown Columbus:
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There is also a Honda car assembly plant in nearby Greensburg off I-74 that could be tagged as Columbus.
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Jeffersonville is located along the Ohio River, directly across from Louisville.
Jeffersonville has many industries, including the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville.
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Another industry in Jeffersonville is Pharmacord pharmaceuticals.
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There is also Samtec electromics in nearby New Albany, Indiana and the Clifty Creek power plant in Madison that could be a more remote depot for Jeffersonville.
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Clifty Creek power plant:
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[HighwayCatGaming]

Here are some pictures of the new Indiana Welcome Centers:

The southbound I-65 welcome center just south of Gary is themed around northern Indiana's wind farms:
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The eastbound I-70 welcome center just west of Terre Haute is themed around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
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The eastbound I-64 welcome center northwest of Evansville is themed around Lincoln's Boyhood Home:
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And there is a new welcome center on westbound I-70 just west of Richmond that is opening in 2027 and will be basketball themed:
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[oldmanclippy]

@HighwayCatGaming This is super cool, I wish every DLC got a photographic tour by a local in the research thread like this

[HighwayCatGaming]

Lots of great info in here. Glad to see that you started the thread and that you are contributing quite a lot of sound info. Although research is under way, I hope there are some things in here that are quite useful to the research team to look into still. I think Indiana is still a year out so perhaps some things can still make it into discussions at SCS. The road network maps looks pretty good. I can definitely be proud to have that in the game. I always look at the road network heading into Indianapolis and can't get spider web out my head, lol. All roads literally led to I-465. No telling what we get. Either partial ring or merges is what I think could happen.

Thanks! I think I've just about covered everything that needs to be highlighted. It's a lot of information and I hope the research team finds it very useful.

@HighwayCatGaming This is super cool, I wish every DLC got a photographic tour by a local in the research thread like this

Thank you! I know that a lot of people view Indiana as boring so I wanted to show off what Indiana has to offer and talk about some unique places and industries I think would make it a fun and exciting DLC if included. If some of this stuff gets in, I think Indiana will be a memorable and popular DLC.There's a diverse amount of industries; limestone quarries, glass manufacturing, car assembly, RV production, steel milling, coal mining, aluminum smelting, pharmaceuticals, etc. Even when it comes to agriculture, there's more than just corn and soybeans, there's also tomatoes grown near Kokomo plus all the dairy from Fair Oaks Farms. And I made sure to include what I believe are the best small scenic towns to drive through in the state. (I also went back and added a few minor things to some of the earlier posts on this thread too).

[flight50]

^You did great. You did more than I would have expected lol. Hopefully some things make it. Research typically starts almost a year ahead of when dlc's go into full production, but I don't think they are closed off to new things they weren't aware of. We'll see what make it. People definitely probably think Indiana is boring but luckily ATS is 1:20 scale and lots of that can get cut out and show the better more exciting things. SCS makes the best of any state and each state is unique. Indiana is no exception. I agree that this level of photography is unmatched from what I've seen from a local.......and I'm here daily and have been for awhile because of my admiration for ATS. So anytime good feedback, conversation or good topics arise, I'm here engaging hoping for the best that ATS can be. I saw the potential of the game way back in 2017 when I started getting heavily involved in this forum and things are continuously getting better for the better. I'm just along for the ride watch the journey.