(a) Purpose. Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 225, provides for the memorial designation of roadways on the state highway system. Subchapter A of that chapter authorizes local governmental units, if approved by the department, to assign a memorial designation to a part of the state highway system, and authorizes a county historical commission to apply to the Texas Historical Commission and the department for the marking with the historical designation of a farm-to-market or ranch road that follows a historical route. This section prescribes the policies and procedures by which memorial highways and historical routes are designated.
(b) Highways designated as memorial highways in the statute. The department will design, construct, or erect a marker for a memorial highway designated by statute only if all costs of designing, constructing, and erecting the marker have been donated to the department.
(c) Transportation Commission. Texas Transportation Code, §225.001, prohibits the Texas Transportation Commission from naming any road, bridge, street, or highway on the state highway system other than by designating it with the regular highway number.
(d) Local governments. Local governmental units, such as a city or county, may submit a request to the department to assign a memorial designation to any part or parts of the state highway system within the local government's jurisdiction.
  (1) The request to assign a memorial designation to a part of a state highway must:
    (A) be sent to the office of the local department district in which the part to be designated is located; and
    (B) include:
      (i) a description and location of the marker or markers to be erected;
      (ii) a statement describing the nature and the objective of the designation, including, if the designation is for a person, the historical significance of the designee; and
      (iii) a copy of the order or resolution of the local government's governing body that provides the memorial designation of the highway.
  (2) The department will not approve a memorial designation if:
    (A) the highway or part of the highway is assigned a memorial designation when the request is received, regardless of whether the markers have been erected; or
    (B) the request is to assign a memorial designation for a living person or does not describe the designee's significance in the state's history or in the lives of the people of this state.
  (3) Two or more local governmental units may cooperate in seeking a single continuous memorial designation for a highway under their jurisdictions.
(e) Memorial designation markers. The department will design, construct, or erect a memorial designation marker only if all costs for the marker have been donated to the department.
  (1) Local governmental units may furnish to the department for installation a memorial marker of a size and type approved by the department.
  (2) The department will erect a memorial marker at a place most suitable to the department's maintenance operations.
  (3) The department will maintain the grounds surrounding the memorial marker.
  (4) A marker for a local government memorial designated highway will be replaced only if all costs to replace the marker have been donated to the department.
  (5) Memorial markers may be erected at each end of the designated limits, and, if applicable, at intermediate sites so that the markers are approximately 75 miles apart.
(f) Historical routes.
  (1) Application. A county historical commission may apply to the Texas Historical Commission and the department for the marking with a historical name of a farm-to-market or ranch road that follows a historical route.
  (2) Certification. Before the department may mark the road with the historical name, the Texas Historical Commission must certify that the name has been in common usage in the area for at least 50 years. The certification must be based on evidence submitted by the applying county historical commission, which must include affidavits from at least five long-time residents of the area.
  (3) Installation. On certification by the Texas Historical Commission, the department will prepare and install markers along the road indicating the road's historical name. The applying county historical commission shall pay for the preparation of the markers.
(g) Official highway name, number, and postal address. A memorial designation or marker placed under this section does not replace the official name, highway number, or the postal address of the highway.

Source Note: The provisions of this §25.9 adopted to be effective December 31, 1992, 17 TexReg 8960; amended to be effective December 9, 2015, 40 TexReg 8797