The Central National Road of Texas was created by act of the Texas Congress in 1844 to give the new nation a unified transportation route. Running from present Dallas to the head of navigation on the Red River northwest of Clarksville, it linked the military routes of west and central Texas to northeast Texas and connected with routes east at Jonesborough and Paris. It failed to gain the international status Congress had hoped for because of population shifts, the coming of railroads, and the development of other routes.