This term is most closely associated with
Texas, where
Farm to Market Road and
Ranch to Market Road indicate roadways that are part of the state's system of secondary and connecting routes, built and maintained by the
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Texas established this system in 1949 to improve access to rural areas. As with other state-maintained highways in Texas, all Farm or Ranch to Market roads are paved. The system consists primarily of two-lane roads, although some segments have an additional number of lanes, while some have been upgraded to
freeways. Farm to Markets may also run alongside large urban freeways and tollways (for example,
FM 1093, which runs west out of Houston to the Katy-Fulshear area alongside
Westpark Tollway). Speed limits along these roads vary, but may be as high as in rural areas, such as in
Andrews and
Pecos counties (for example, along
FM 1788,
FM 1776, and
FM 1053).
History The first farm-to-market road in Texas was completed in January 1937 during the
Great Depression. It connected
Mount Enterprise and the former community of Shiloh in
Rusk County. The route was long and was constructed at a cost of $48,015.12 (). This route is now part of
Texas State Highway 315. The first Ranch to Market Road was designated in 1942. In 1945, the highway commission authorized a three-year pilot program for the construction of of farm-to-market roadways, with cost to be shared equally by the state and federal governments. As the program grew, efforts were made by legislators from rural areas, including
State Senator Grady Hazlewood of
Amarillo, to expand the farm-to-market road network in the late 1940s. The funding was to have come from an increase in the
fuel tax, as proposed by State Senator Grover Morris in 1947. Although polls suggested that a majority of Texas residents were in favor of such a tax, this measure was stymied by lobbyists, who supported such funding for
arterial roads. The popularity of the program and the perceived need to connect the vast, isolated central and western areas of the state prompted the passing of the Colson-Briscoe Act in 1949, sponsored by State Senator E. Neveille Colson and State Representative
Dolph Briscoe. This legislation appropriated funding 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, reserving a flat $15million per year (equivalent to $ in ) plus 1 cent () per gallon of gasoline sold in the state for local highway construction. In 1962, the Texas legislature adjusted the appropriated funding amount to $23million annually (equivalent to $ in ), through federal fund matching, and expanded the farm-to-market system from . By 1964, the system's mileage exceeded that of all other federal and state routes combined. The system now accounts for over half of the mileage maintained by TxDOT.
Identification , a farm-to-market road near
Houston, Texas Signs designating a Farm to Market or Ranch to Market road are a black square background containing a white shape of the state of Texas, with the words "FARM ROAD" or "RANCH ROAD" appearing in white text on the background and the route number in black text within the shape of Texas.
Guide signs (the large green signs usually found along
highways in the United States) designating these roads use a simple white rectangle with the abbreviation "F.M." or "R.M." and the route number appearing below the abbreviation in black text. As a result of population growth and the expansion of urban areas, many Farm to Market and Ranch to Market roads that originally served rural areas now serve urban areas, sometimes exclusively. An effort was made to rename such roads "Urban Roads" on June 27, 1995, but residents opposed the effort, arguing that removing the "Farm" and "Ranch" from the designations was "un-Texan," and that the cost of changing signage was not justified. Other than a few route markers, such as on
FM 1315 near
Victoria, most signs were not changed, and TxDOT abandoned the idea to do so. While the Farm to Market and Ranch to Market route markers remained in use, the state tracked these Urban Roads separately in its highway designation files. For example, the mileage of
FM 544 in the
Plano area was transferred from FM 544 to UR 544 in 1995. As part of the state highway system, Urban Roads were eligible for state maintenance; however, unlike rural Farm to Market and Ranch to Market roads, they did not receive state funding for expansion. On November 15, 2018, the Urban Road system was cancelled, and all roads on this system reverted back to their previous FM and RM designations. For example, UR 544 was redesignated as FM 544. Farm to Market and Ranch to Market roads are numbered as a single set of roads; thus, there is not an FM and an RM route with the same number. Urban Roads were designated with the same route numbers as the FM or RM routes from which the mileage was transferred.
Ranch Road 1, which runs near the former ranch home of former President
Lyndon B. Johnson, is signed with a Ranch to Market Road route marker, but it is not part of this system; rather, it is the only roadway that TxDOT has designated as a "Ranch Road". File:FM_1719_at_US_87-287.jpg|
Route marker: FM 1719 route marker in
Potter County (left) alongside route markers for U.S. 87 and U.S. 287 (right) File:Texas guide sign SL SH FM.jpg|
Guide sign: destination sign along
Interstate 35 showing typical signage for a Farm to Market Road (right), along with signage for a State Highway Loop (left) and a State Highway (center) for comparison
Business routes Texas currently has two signed
business routes of Farm to Market Roads:
Business RM 1431 in
Burnet County and
Business FM 1960 in
Harris County. Both business routes are former alignments that have been bypassed by newer routings. A third business route, Business
FM 1187 in
Tarrant County, was designated from 2004 to 2016. == Other states ==