Farm to Market Road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image:Texas FM 1957.svg A Farm to Market Road or Ranch to Market Road (sometimes Farm Road or Ranch Road for short) is a state road or county road which serves to connect rural and agricultural areas to market towns. These routes serve as a better quality road, usually a highway, which allows farmers and ranchers to transport their products to market towns and/or distribution centers.
However, in Texas, the terms "Farm to Market Road" or "Ranch to Market Road" indicate a road that is part of the state's system of secondary and connecting routes, built and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This system was established in 1949 as a project to provide access to rural areas. The system consists primarily of paved, two-lane roads. Roads occurring west of U.S. Route 281 (or Interstate 35 in some locations) are designated Ranch-to-Market roads, while those occurring east of U.S. 281 are generally designated Farm-to-Market roads, though there are exceptions to this naming system.
Although these roads are signed "Farm Road" or "Ranch Road" (or simply "FM" and "RM" on larger sign assemblies), the proper name is Farm-to-Market and Ranch-to-Market road. The only exception is Ranch Road 1, which runs near the former ranch home of former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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[edit] History
The vast, isolated central and western areas of the state of Texas prompted the passing of the Colson-Briscoe Act in 1949, which allowed for the creation of an extensive system of secondary roads to provide access to the rural areas of the state and to allow farmers and ranchers to bring their goods to market. The system includes both Farm-to-Market roads and Ranch-to-Market roads and now accounts for over half of the Texas Department of Transportation system.
[edit] Identification
Signs designating a Farm-to-Market or Ranch-to-Market road show a white shape of the state of Texas on a black background with the words "Farm Road" or "Ranch Road" appearing in the background and the road number appearing on the shape of Texas. Guide signs (the large green signs usually found along highways) designating these roads show a white rectangle with the abbreviation "F.M." or "R.M." and the road number appearing below the abbreviation.
As a result of population growth and the expansion of urban areas, many of these roads now serve urban areas. An effort was made to rename such roads "Urban Roads" in the 1990s, but residents opposed the effort. Though the F.M. and R.M. designations remain in place on route signage, the state tracks Urban Roads separately in its highway designation files. For example, the mileage of Farm to Market Road 544 in Plano was transferred from FM 544 <ref>Highway Designation File: FARM TO MARKET ROAD NO. 544</ref> to UR 544 <ref>Highway Designation File: URBAN ROAD NO. 544</ref> in 1995.
FM and RM roads are numbered as a single set of roads (e.g., there should not be an FM and an RM with the same number, unless it crosses US 281). Urban Roads do not share this distinction; URs are normally numbered with the same number they had as FM or RM roads.
[edit] Facts and trivia
- All state highways in Texas, regardless of designation, are paved.
- The longest Farm to Market Road is FM 168 at 139.421 miles.
- The shortest Farm to Market Road is FM 742, at 0.175 mile.
- The longest Ranch-to-Market road is RM 187, at 81.9 miles.
- The shortest Ranch-to-Market road is RM 3474, at 0.694 mile.
- According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there are over 41,000 miles of FM, RM roads and Urban Roads in Texas.
[edit] Other states
Missouri has a similar state-operated system of farm-to-market roads, called Missouri Supplemental Routes. Unlike Texas' unique farm-to-market route numbers, Missouri uses letters and two-letter combinations.
Iowa also has a farm-to-market road system. Those roads are under county jurisdiction <ref>Iowa Code 2003: Section 306.3. Retrieved March 28, 2006</ref>, but are eligible for state aid from a dedicated fund. <ref>Iowa Code 2001: Section 312.5. Retrieved March 28, 2006.</ref>
