We complain about them, but we use them....really, depend on them...Texas roads. So let's at least acknowledge the department charged with our massive road map in the Lone Star state, TxDot which turned 100 years old this month.
It was orginally the Texas Highway Department, created on April 4, 1917, with a goal of connecting farms and ranches to markets. That's where those FM road designations originate. In its first 9 months, the department registered 200,000 automobiles and drew the first state map showing more than 8800 miles of roadway linking Texas communities.
One hundred years later, that is now 80,000 miles of roadway maintained by the state for a Texas population of more than 27 million people. Added duties include aviation and railways, as well as ports and waterways, for the renamed Texas Department of Transportation. 100 years old and counting.