The Bankhead National Highway ran from Washington, D.C. to San Diego, California, as the nation’s first all-weather, coast-to-coast highway. Its southern route skirted the western mountains and was largely free from ice and snow, allowing reliable year-round travel. Named for Alabama Senator John H. Bankhead, author of the Federal Highway Act of 1916, it benefited from federal aid to states for highway construction. In April 1919, the Bankhead Highway Association approved an “All Texas” route from Texarkana to El Paso when it met in Mineral Wells, along with a few branches. The primary route coincided with Texas Highway No. 1, and at about 900 miles, the Texas 1 Bankhead made up nearly one-third of the national road’s total length. The Texas Bankhead later became part of the route called the “Broadway of America.” After numbered highways replaced named national roads in 1926, the route from Texarkana became part of US-67 to Dallas, where it joined US-80. Those highways were often realigned and by the 1960s gave way to Interstates 30 and 20, which merged with I-10 in far West Texas. Despite those changes, much of the early Bankhead in Texas survives as state and county roads linking towns bypassed by the interstates, and the Bankhead name and stretches of 1920s pavement remain in public memory.