New checkpoint for INDOT projects targets Mid-States?
A small paragraph quietly added to SEA 27 – the high-profile, “must-pass” package pitched as Indiana’s attempt to lure the Chicago Bears to Hammond – is now drawing nearly as much attention to the highway project it may be aimed at as much as the stadium language itself.
The provision, slipped into an amendment in the House Committee on Ways and Means in the final days of the legislative session, will force any Indiana Department of Transportation highway project costing at least $250 million to go before the State Budget Committee for review.
While this will apply to several projects going forward, the new requirement will instantly pull the long-disputed Mid-States Corridor into a new arena of fiscal review . . . even as legislative leaders insist the clause wasn’t designed with that project in mind.
Though the General Assembly has not had direct say over INDOT projects, the Mid-States Corridor surprisingly became one of the hot topics of the 2026 legislative session early on. Your favorite transportation newsletter detailed in January how grumblings were growing from some on the Third Floor over how exactly INDOT planned to find $1 billion in a year to start the MSC project in Dubois County. And frustrations began showing more at the State House and Back Home over the Governor’s perceived insistence to press on with the project that will cross through his hometown.
With that in mind, one might see this new legislative branch scrutiny added to SEA 27 as a swipe at Governor Mike Braun (R) . . . but he sees it differently.
Governor Braun isn’t treating the move as a slight. He is embracing it. Asked by reporters on Monday at his post-session press conference whether lawmakers were signaling discomfort with Mid-States, the Governor instead cast the new oversight as overdue discipline for an overall infrastructure budget he says is facing revenue flattening and future decline. In his view, major highway proposals will need to prove their worth more rigorously.
“I know you think I probably wouldn’t like that,” Gov. Braun quipped. He continued, “I think that’s an excellent idea, because when it comes to infrastructure, the last time we addressed it, and the revenue from it was back in 2017, and the fact that that revenue stream is flattened and going to be waning, we need to be careful.”
Though not necessarily directed at it, that shift places the proposed 54-mile route connecting I-64 and I-69 into a more competitive environment. Projects of this scale would have to first clear INDOT’s technical process and then survive a BudCom review that weighs readiness, regional buy-in, and statewide opportunity cost. And eight of the 11 BudCom members are lawmakers who have favored projects in their own regions, or which may be advanced by a chunk of their respective caucuses (the other three members are state budget officials who are tied to the Governor’s Office.
INDOT will also have to annually provide the State Budget Committee with “an update on the department’s long range comprehensive transportation plans.”
You may recall that in January, we reported concerns shared with INDOT officials by House Committee on Transportation Chair Jim Pressel (R) of Rolling Prairie on cost, timing, and impact on the cancellation or delay of hundreds of other INDOT road projects. The chair and other legislators pressed agency officials as to how INDOT could prioritize funding the Mid-States Corridor while other projects are still in limbo.
In the wake of that hearing, INDOT had indefinitely postponed issuance of the MSC Request for Proposals, but the release of the draft RFP six weeks later now suggests the gubernatorially favored project – which is also being backed by the Cook Group to help support its local facilities and employees from Dubois County through Orange County and Monroe County – is back on track.
We additionally informed you that legislators from the Jasper area also expressed hesitation on the project in a January chamber event, where residents asked pointed questions about MSC to Rep. Shane Lindauer (R) of Jasper and Sen. Daryl Schmitt (R) of Jasper (who was caucused in to his seat and is up for election for the first time this year).
The Dubois County Free Press reported that Rep. Lindauer, who is not seeking reelection this year, stated that he supports a bypass in Dubois County – but not the current new-terrain, four-lane Mid-States design, calling for a scaled-back approach.
Sen. Schmitt echoed those thoughts, noting that sentiment varies widely across the six counties he represents. Both lawmakers stressed at the time, though, that they cannot vote on the project, citing constitutional prohibitions that prevent the General Assembly from canceling a project via legislation, or by carving it out of the budget.
The Budget Committee review is a workaround of sorts to those mentioned prohibitions for lawmakers to have direct influence over projects.
As for the new legislative review process, Gov. Braun on Monday described the scrutiny as healthy because Indiana can no longer assume it will have the dollars to chase every idea. He said the Budget Committee’s involvement forces the administration and lawmakers to grapple with which proposals are truly “advanced,” which communities have “skin in the game,” and how each project stacks up against others across the state.
“There are going to be projects across the state that are going to have to compete for what is a relatively scarce source, and it’s going to depend on the skin of the game, how advanced the project is,” Gov. Braun asserted.
The Governor made sure to note that even with the review, “INDOT is going to have the say so, but I think it’s wise on large projects.”
The requirement could create an interesting dynamic around Mid-States because Gov. Braun will still influence INDOT’s priorities and the administration’s posture when proposals land before the committee.
In theory, that means the Mid-States Corridor could receive strong executive-branch backing even as other major corridors, bridge expansions, or interstate upgrades fight for the same shrinking pool of funding. The competition Gov. Braun describes could end up occurring around – not instead of – a project he has long been associated with back home.
However, it’s our understanding that the Governor does not plan to advocate to siphon dollars away from other INDOT projects to promote the Mid-States highway, and the corridor will be in the same boat as other major work that will be subject to BudCom review.
Back on the Third Floor, legislative leaders insist the language in SEA 27 is not aimed at MSC, and the provision is more about giving lawmakers visibility into major projects as the state balances new construction with preservation work.
House Speaker Todd Huston (R) of Fishers, when speaking to reporters after adjourning sine die on February 27, explained the provision mirrors past oversight practices for large state expenditures . . . and was inserted because of anticipated infrastructure needs tied to Lake County, not as a message about the Jasper-area proposal.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) of Martinsville similarly called the additional step routine fiscal responsibility, saying the legislature simply wants a clearer understanding of how transportation dollars are allocated.
House Ways and Means Chair Jeff Thompson (R) of Lizton, when asked by the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s Tom Davies, affirmed the requirement in SEA 27 “had nothing to do with” Mid-States. He added that the committee would almost always approve projects after review.
In reality, it seems to be rare these days to see projects of any sort presented before BudCom face rejection.
Legislators sitting on the panel on both sides of the political spectrum will criticize projects and costs, but all on the agenda are typically approved after review. For example, Senate Majority Floor Leader Chris Garten (R) of Charlestown, an alternate on the committee, in 2024 balked at the $256 million price tag of welcome center refurbishments INDOT presented to BudCom for approval.
Again, the timing is significant, especially with lawmakers growing more skeptical this year of the MSC project and road funding in general, and with public opposition in Dubois County remaining strong. Recall a December poll in the county funded by the Property Rights Alliance showed 71% of residents were against the Mid-States project. Gov. Braun also holds a mere 16% approval rating in his home county in that survey – likely driven by the strong opposition to the road project.
A more recent statewide poll of Indiana voters released by the same group, Public Policy Polling, at the end of February found that 74% of the 554 respondents want the project canceled. The poll finds 65% of the statewide respondents oppose the MSC, including 41% who strongly oppose it.
Now, perhaps with political intentions, the Governor is supporting an oversight framework that puts the Mid-States Corridor in a competitive lineup of expensive projects, even as he retains the power to elevate it administratively.
The growing political attention to the Mid-States Corridor is largely due to Braun’s proximity to the project, compared to other large INDOT projects in the pipeline, and it may be easy to pick out the MSC because of that. Still, it is not unheard of for elected officials to favor highway work that is in or near their home turf . . . and it’s also not unusual for a governor to prop up a specific INDOT project while in office.
For example, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) was instrumental in the I-69 expansion from Evansville to Indianapolis – a project which Gov. Braun reminded us in our December interview with him led Gov. Daniels to scrap the Mid-States Corridor at the time. On that subject, which we wrote about in our January 9 issue, the Governor stated: “The rest of it, to me, is just getting the only project that was canceled – Mitch Daniels did it. I understand why – just getting it back on the docket.”
Whether the added scrutiny reins in the MSC project or merely formalizes a process the Governor can still influence will determine how much the Budget Committee’s new role truly reshapes Indiana’s highway priorities.