When they think of Indiana, they think of roads: peaceful two-lane routes lined by cornfields, southern byways unraveling over roller-coaster hills, the asphalt turns of the Indianapolis Speedway.Transportation routes have been important to the state since the National Road was built in the 1830s. They have made Indiana a crossroads, a meeting place of different elements central to the Midwest. The Great Lakes give way to vast plains of corn, farmers share freeways with factory workers, and rural countryside verges on large cities.