 in the united states, a farm-to-market road or ranch-to-market road (sometimes farm road or ranch road for short) is a state road or county road that connects rural or agricultural areas to market towns. these are better quality roads, usually a highway, that farmers and ranchers use to transport products to market towns or distribution centers. thumb|distribution of farm to market (green) and ranch to market (brown) roads specifically, in the state of texas, the terms 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 provide access to rural areas. the system consists primarily of paved, two-lane roads, though some segments are freeways, including a segment of  (the emmett f. lowry expressway between interstate 45 and texas city, texas). these roads are signed with route markers that contain the words farm road or ranch road, but the formal name is farm to market road and ranch to market road (hence the abbreviation "fm" and "rm" on signs). the only road that explicitly uses the name ranch road is ranch road 1, which runs near the former ranch home of former president lyndon b. johnson. as with other state-maintained highways in texas, all farm or ranch to market roads are paved. speed limits along these roads vary, but may be as high as 75&nbsp;mph in rural areas, such as in andrews and pecos counties (for example, along , , and ). ==history==  the first farm to market road in texas was completed in january 1937. 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 highway officially designated as  was authorized in 1941, connecting  near pineland to a sawmill belonging to the temple lumber company.{{cite journal |last=burka |first= paul |dat
Farm_to_Market_Roads_in_Texas Roads_in_the_United_States Types_of_roads