Tuesday, August 11, 2026

From the Back Seat to a Better Future

By Jonathan Weinzapfel

When I think about the Lloyd Expressway, I don’t just think about it as a road project. I think about it as part of the story of growing up in Evansville and part of the story of how this community has worked, over decades, to become more connected.

I grew up in St. Philip in Posey County, and every day, my father drove me into Evansville to Memorial High School, where he taught and coached. That was before the Lloyd Expressway existed. I graduated in 1984, so those daily trips came during the years when getting from the west side to the east side could feel like an adventure every single time in our AMC Matador.

There were multiple ways to go, but none of them were easy. The most popular ones for us were to take U.S. 62 to Riverside then head east on Walnut, or take Division Street then head south on Weinbach, or choose several other ways that ultimately included sharing space with railroad tracks running right down the middle of the road. Every route had its own frustrations. It was slow. It was stop-and-go. It took time. It felt like a journey just to get across town.

That may have simply been “how it was” back then, but even as a kid, you understood it was a hindrance to connectivity. It affected daily life in a very real way.

So, when the Lloyd Expressway opened, it was exciting. For people in Evansville, it was a major change. For me personally, it meant that suddenly traveling from the west side all the way to Newburgh was not the same kind of ordeal it had been before. It was a tremendous improvement, and I think it was a tremendous boon for the community.

Of course, over time, as Evansville grew and traffic patterns changed, expectations changed too. People began to want more from the Lloyd Expressway than simply a new road. Newer generations don’t necessarily remember the pre-Lloyd Expressway days. They just want a safer road. A less congested road. A more efficient way to complete turns or not have to wait through multiple traffic-signal cycles to get through an intersection. That’s the natural evolution of any important corridor. You appreciate the progress that has been made, but you also keep looking ahead to what still needs to be done.

That was certainly true during my years as mayor.

The Lloyd Expressway was always in the background as one of those pieces of infrastructure you knew mattered deeply to the community, even though it was ultimately state-controlled and not subject to city oversight. There was only so much a mayor could directly control. But that didn’t mean you ignored it. You looked for ways to advocate, to push, and to partner.

One example I remember well was working with former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh on a federal appropriation to secure funding to construct a diamond interchange on the Lloyd Expressway at Fulton Avenue in the first decade of the 2000s (upgraded from a regular signal-controlled intersection). That kind of support can help move a project forward and create momentum. It can help make clear that a community is serious about continuing to improve a corridor that is essential to its future.

And that really is the key word for me when I think about the Lloyd Expressway: connectivity.

Efficient, safe roads matter because they connect people to jobs, connect businesses to customers, and connect communities to opportunity. They help employers attract talent. They help products move. They make it easier for visitors to come in and for residents to move around. They are a significant factor in job growth and community development.

The Lloyd Expressway has done that for Evansville. It has made it easier for people to live in Warrick County or Posey County and work in the city. It has supported growth and improved quality of life. It has changed the rhythm of daily life in this community.

And in many ways, its story connects directly to another major chapter in southwest Indiana’s history that, as we all know, dominated the city’s interest: the construction of Interstate 69 between Evansville and Indianapolis. 

For many years, people in this region felt neglected by the state. That was a real sentiment. It took generations to bring major infrastructure projects like the Lloyd Expressway and I-69 to fruition. When you had to plan three-and-a-half hours to get from Evansville to Indianapolis, that shaped how you saw your place in the state. Today, that trip is dramatically shorter, and that changes the equation. It changes how connected this region feels to the rest of Indiana and to the opportunities beyond it.

Now, as the community has reached the two-year milestone of the current Lloyd Expressway improvements, I think it is worth appreciating both where we started and how far we have come.

There was a time when crossing Evansville felt like a daily obstacle course. Then came the first generation of the Lloyd Expressway. And now comes another era of reinvestment and innovation.

That progress did not happen overnight. It took persistence, it took advocacy, and it took a community that never stopped believing it deserved better connections and a better future.

That, to me, is the Lloyd Expressway’s legacy.

Jonathan Weinzapfel is General Counsel at Indianapolis Airport Authority. He was Evansville mayor from 2004–2011.