Southwestern Indiana


Southwestern Indiana is an 11-county region of southern Indiana, United States located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the region's combined population is 474,251. Evansville, Indiana's third-largest city, is the primary hub for the region, as well as the primary regional hub for a tri-state area which includes Kentucky and Illinois. Other regional hubs include Jasper, Vincennes, and Washington.

Geography

Southwestern Indiana's topography is considerably more varied and complex than most of Indiana, from large tracts of forest, marshes, rolling fields, large flat valleys in the west and south, to several chains of low mountains, high hills, and sharp valleys towards the north and east. Every county in Southwestern Indiana is bounded by a river at one point, whether it be the Wabash River along the west, the Ohio River along the south, the White River, dividing the six northern counties between its two forks, or other smaller rivers. More than 50% of the boundaries of Daviess, Knox, Perry, Posey, and Spencer Counties are dictated by a river or a creek. About 80% Knox County's boundaries are dictated by either the Wabash or the White River. Additionally, over half of the area is located within the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone.
Southwestern Indiana has clusters of separate towns of varying sizes and layouts. Vincennes is laid out in the French quadrangular, while Jasper and Princeton are laid out in a standard grid. Evansville is laid out in both modes of survey, with its downtown being mapped out from the river and the rest of the city being laid out in the standard grid.

Organizational defining

In addition to various media definitions, Southwestern Indiana is also defined by most Indiana state agencies, as well as various commercial and economic regions, as an entire area. All of Southwestern Indiana's counties are in Indiana's 8th Congressional District as of 2013. Most of Southwestern Indiana exists in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville, as well. Southwestern Indiana makes up realtor region 12 in Indiana, while nine of the counties make up Economic Growth Region 11 with Daviess and Martin in Region 8.
In addition, the southern third of Southwestern Indiana exists within the Ohio River Valley American Viticultural Area, the second-largest wine appellation in the United States. The Ohio River Valley AVA occupies all of Perry, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties, nearly 90% of Gibson County, and portions of Pike and Dubois Counties in Southwestern Indiana.

Counties

- Establishment Date - Indiana Territory County

Metropolitan and micropolitan areas

Metropolitan area

Micropolitan areas

Political status

CountyHouse
District		Senate
District		US House
District
14 Daviess45th 63rd 64th39th 48th8th
19 Dubois63rd 73rd 74th47th 48th8th
26 Gibson64th 74th 75th48th 49th8th
42 Knox45th 64th39th 48th8th
51 Martin62nd 63rd48th8th
62 Perry73rd 74th47th8th
63 Pike63rd 64th48th8th
65 Posey76th49th8th
74 Spencer74th 78th47th8th
82 Vanderburgh75th 76th 77th 78th49th 50th8th
87 Warrick75th 77th 78th47th 50th8th
Southwestern Indiana45th 62nd 63rd 64th 73rd
74th 75th 76th 77th 78th		39th 47th 48th
49th 50th		8th

Highways

Interstate highways

The oldest interstate in the region, this stretch of I-64, has been the primary artery of east-west traffic since entering service around 1983. While relatively flat in Posey, Vanderburgh, and Gibson Counties, its terrain becomes hillier as it passes through the nearly 30-mile stretch in Warrick County. By the time it approaches U.S. 231, the hills and valleys are sharper, transitioning into the low mountainous conditions found in Perry County as the highway leaves into Crawford County.
Interstate 69
The newest interstate in the region, this stretch of I-69 is provides interstate access to Bloomington and, eventually, to Indianapolis. Like I-64, the terrain around Evansville is relatively flat, but becomes hillier in northeastern Gibson County, and becomes progressively hillier through Pike County. The stretch of I-69 in Daviess County between Washington and Elnora is actually flatter than the stretch in Vanderburgh County, while containing some hilly sections south of Washington, but becomes very hilly northeast of Elnora as the highway approaches Crane and leaves the area into Greene County.

U.S. highways


US 41 extends from Miami, Florida to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This four-lane highway serves the western half of the region. US 41 goes through the city of Evansville, becoming six lanes between the Lloyd Expressway and Diamond Avenue. It bypasses Princeton and Vincennes before continuing north towards Terre Haute.
U.S. Route 50

US 50 extends from Baltimore, Maryland, to Sacramento, California. It is a winding two-lane road in the eastern half of the region which becomes a four-lane road in the western half, near Washington, before joining US 41 in the bypass around Vincennes. It intersects with I-69 just east of Washington. It leaves Indiana on the Red Skelton Bridge.
U.S. Route 150

Coterminous with US 50 from Vincennnes to Shoals, it breaks off and heads eastward while US 50 continues northeast.
U.S. Route 231

This now mostly new four-lane road serves the eastern half of the region. The route is in a process of relocation, as a new four-lane road is under construction from Rockport to Greene County, where it will intersect with Interstate 69.

Interstate 69 - A highway underway

Culture

Annual festivals and celebrations

From 1966 to 2006, the five southwesternmost counties—Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick—observed Central Daylight Time. The six northern and eastern counties—Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry, and Pike, since 1982—observed a year-round Eastern Standard Time as did much of the rest of the state.
In 2006, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels pushed through legislation that would put the counties on Eastern Time onto Eastern Daylight Time. This action threw both Southwestern and Northwestern Indiana into chaos as counties started to argue with one another as to whether to return to Central Time or remain on Eastern Time and start observing Eastern Daylight Time. On April 2, 2006, Southwestern Indiana was once again united in one time zone, Central Daylight Time.
Not even a month after the change, people began to complain about some of the same problems that people that lived in the original Central Daylight Time counties had been complaining about for years. Most prevalent was the complaint that the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center had become a "time island". The workers' union of the base subsequently petitioned the Martin County Commissioners to repetition for a change back to Eastern Time. The resulting chain reaction resulted in all of the former Eastern Time counties, along with two Central Time counties, Gibson and Spencer, petitioning for a change to Eastern Time.
On September 20, 2007, after only 15 months and only one winter on Central Time, the DOT returned only five of the eight applicants to Eastern Time. Gibson, Perry and Spencer Counties did not have enough support to return or to go to Eastern Time. However, three of the five counties, Daviess, Knox, and Pike, had little support either, but "convenience of commerce" was given as the reason for their time changes, despite commute patterns into Evansville and the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana plant in Gibson County, the region's largest employer. In Dubois County, a heated disagreement between Huntingburg and Jasper occurred over the topic. Most of Huntingburg's industry and economy is geared towards the Central Time Zone, where Owensboro, Kentucky, and Spencer County, and the Huntingburg area's largest employers, AK Steel and Holiday World are located. Jasper, though, insists that the majority of its business is aimed at the Eastern Seaboard and returning to Eastern Time would be in the best interest of the county.
So whether it was supported or not, Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Pike returned to Eastern Daylight Time on November 4, 2007, once again dividing Southwestern Indiana. The DOT has stated that it will not hold any more hearings on the subject until the fall of 2008.