People always ask the question, what is the difference in FM Roads and RR Roads?

The best explanation I have is as follows; Both types of roads generally exist in rural areas. After a county (sometimes a city) acquires right-of-way, TxDOT builds and maintains the road.

FM’s started being built back in 1931. They were primarily built so farmers could more easily get crops to market from those rural areas.

In 1932 the RR designation was added, because in many areas there was only limited farming being done. So it didn’t seem correct to call those new highways Farm Roads.

So “generally” speaking “most” rural state highways east of US 281 are FM’s, since there are heavier concentrations of farming than ranching, while west of US 281 is mostly ranching, therefore more highways are RR’s.

Notice I say “generally” and “most” because there are no hard and fast rules concerning this naming matter. An example of this is the Texas Panhandle that is west of US 281, but is largely made up farm area, therefore you are more likely to see FM’s.

Another example is RR 2222 in Travis County. It is east of US 281, but the rocky ground to the west of Austin provides little farming opportunity, so any land that direction was used for ranching. Now that highway is completely within the bounds of Austin, with development along its full length. It has now been switched to an Urban Road (UR), but after much controversy the signage and the reference to it continues to be RR 2222.

Please understand this isn’t a complete and definitive run down on this subject. There are several reasons that makes it impossible to capture the full history of highway/road designation for Texas.

TxDot and the Map Companies are never sure what to call them.

TxDot isn’t any clearer on this subject, it would appear. These signs describe it both as a Ranch Road and a FM within a short distance of each other.

Over the past 92 years many things have changed, which is an understatement.