The Bankhead Highway was the United States' first all-weather, transcontinental highway and was largely responsible for the popularization of early road trips and tourism. Encouraging a boom in many of the small towns it passed through, the Bankhead also saw the birth of many states' Department of Transportation as it was planned, paved and maintained. Today, large portions of the road lie disused along much larger asphalt highways but its history within the Texas Forts Trail region is still as rich and inviting as ever.