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, making it reliable for year-round travel. It was named for Alabama Senator John H. Bankhead, author of the Federal Highway Act of 1916, which provided federal aid to states for highway construction. An “All Texas” route from Texarkana to El Paso was approved when the Bankhead Highway Association met in Mineral Wells in April 1919, along with a few branches. The primary route coincided with Texas Highway No. 1, and at about 900 miles long, 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 known as the “Broadway of America.” After numbered highways replaced named national highways in 1926, the route from Texarkana became part of US-67 to Dallas, where it joined US-80. Those federal 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 remains as state and county roads connecting towns bypassed by the interstates, and the Bankhead name endures in public memory along with miles of pavement from the 1920s.