Farm-to-market road

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.

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 improve access to rural areas. The system consists primarily of paved, two-lane roads, though some segments are freeways, including a segment of FM 1764 (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 mph in rural areas, such as in Andrews and Pecos Counties (for example, along FM 1788, FM 1776, and FM 1053).

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