A Brief History
The Old Spanish Trail Highway (OST) includes segments of some of the oldest roads and trails in Texas. The OST took a more southerly route than the Bankhead Highway and was touted as the shortest transcontinental highway in the United States. The OST enters Texas at Orange, passing through Houston and San Antonio before leaving Texas via El Paso, with various alignments. The historic highway has been largely subsumed by Interstate 10.
Learn more about the history of the Old Spanish Trail Highway »
Old Spanish Trail Highway Alignments
Old Spanish Trail Highway Map. Use your mouse to zoom in and out on the map to see the various alignments. To use a larger map and to click on and off alignment layers, click on the Google Earth link in the sidebar under "Other Ways to Explore the Old Spanish Trail."
The road-related resources along the OST alignments have not yet been surveyed.
Highlights of Old Spanish Trail Highway
Evoking the early Spanish conquistadors, explorers, and missionaries who came to Texas and other southern states centuries ago, the historic named highway known as the Old Spanish Trail (OST) includes segments of some of the oldest roads and trails in Texas. Spanning the nation from St. Augustine, Florida to San Diego, California, the OST took a more southerly route than the Bankhead Highway and was touted as the shortest transcontinental highway in the United States, especially when compare to the Lincoln Highway, which extends from coast to coast across the nation's mid-section. The OST enters Texas at Beaumont, passing through Houston and San Antonio before leaving Texas via El Paso, with various alignments.
If you are interested in seeing mapped historic alignments of the OST, click on the Other Ways to Explore the Old Spanish Trail Highway in the right sidebar.
