Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 271
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TEXAS HIGHWAYS.
One of the big jobs in Texas highway building has been the replacement of the old,
narrow "turtle-back" roads of the early road-building era. Shown above are the old
and the new in Texas highway construction on U.S. Highway 290 between Austin and
Bastrop.Fort Worth. the financial and wholesaling
services of Dallas, the port and industrial
functions of Houston and the state govern-
ment center of Austin -these and many other
relationships encourage mobility in its various
forms.
Again, the geographic position of Texas as
a whole in the Gulf Southwestern corner of
the United States tends to increase the rela-
live amount of passenger travel and commod-
ity and merchandise transportation.
Furthermore, Texans, as a frontier people,
are naturally a mobile people. They sought
the wide spaces, and they have become accus-
tomed to thinking and moving in terms of
wide spaces.
Beginnings of Road Improvement in Texas.
The first motor vehicle was driven over
Texas roads in 1899 by Col. E. H. R. Green
of Terrell, Texas, president of the Texas Mid-
land Railroad. The Spindletop oil discovery in
1901 greatly stimulated popular interest in the
new form of transportation.
In 1911, at about the time that people began
to realize that the "motor age" was upon
them, the highway improvement in Texas was
reported in the Texas Almanac as follows:
Macadam roads, 261 miles; shell, 165 miles
gravel, 1,705.5 miles; sand-clay, 1,777.6 miles;
other improvements, estimated, 500 miles;
total, 5,125 miles. At that time it was esti-
mated that there were 160,000 miles of road in
the state, all of which mileage was then lo-
cally maintained.
Interest in highway development became
general in Texas between 1900 and 1910. Dur-
ing this period an appreciable number of
residents of the state became automobile own-
ers. It was during this decade that the first
good roads clubs" were formed and the vot-
ing of bonds for road construction became
frequent.
Four Milestones.
The progress of highway improvement in
this state may be said to have passed four
milestones. First of these was the act of the
Legislature in 1909 providing for subdivision
of a county for the voting of bonds for high-
way improvement; second was the setting up
of the State Highway Commission in 1917;
third was the act of 1925 following the deci-
sion of the higher courts in the Limestone
County Case giving the state control of publichighways; and fourth was the act of 1932 by
which the state assumed interest and sinking
fund obligations on bonds previously voted by
civil subdivisions for improvement of state
highways.
In the relatively few years of exclusive
state control (of the designated highway sys-
tem there have been (1) an integration of the
system by the filling in of the gaps in the
pavement that were left when it was neces-
sary for local aid to participate in any high-
way improvement. (2) a rapid extension of
paved mileage, (3) a general upgrading of all
types of improvement, and i() rapid progress
in bridge construction. This last-mentioned
improvement has been important because,
while few Texas streams are of the large,
navigable type, yet even in the western parts
of the stale the characteristic rapid precipita-
tion and quick runoff from the open, rolling
terrain have created a stream crossing prob-
lem out of proportion to normal stream flow.
HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS, BY TYPES
Mileage of the various types o highway im-
provement in the slate public road systems, as of
dates indicated, was as follows:
State-Maintained Highways and Farm-to-Market
Roads.
As of Sept. 1, 1950:
Earth roads .......................... 149.73
Grading and small structures ........... 362.25
Flexible base untreated, gravel, caliche,
etc . . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... 217 .07
Asphaltic surface under -inch flexible
base ......... ...................... 22.148.30
Asphaltic surface 1-inch and more flex-
ible base ........................... 4,4 28.45
Asphaltic surface 1-inch and more rigid
b a se . ... ... ... ... ... ...... ... ... ... . 1,156 .12
Concrete pavem ent .................... 1,.818.12
Brick pavement ... .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. ... 17.52
D ual surface .......................... 111.20
City mileage maintained by stale..... 1.517.63
T otal .............................. . 41,929.39
County-Maintained Rural Public Roads.
As of Jan. 1, 1'150:
Primitive and unimproved .............. 82.196.79
Graded and drained earth .............. 37,660.45
Soil surface and gravel or stone........ 36.815.1
Bituminous surt'aice t reacted ............. ( 291.08
Mixed bitum inous ..................... 490.43
High-type bituminous ................. 385.75
Portland cement concrete............... 594.42
Brick and block ....................... 270.79
T otal ............................... 164.7017.85
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/273/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.