West Texas Has the Oldest Road Still Being Used in America

Texas has some of the oldest roads in the entire United States; we certainly know that it has the oldest highway in the country. While that story does a good job showing the history of the oldest highway, there might be an even older road in the state of Texas; one that dates before the United States was a country.

To find the oldest road, we need to talk about the El Camino Real Trail

The El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the "Royal Road of the Interior", was the first trade route for Euro-American people to use in the United States. The 1600 mile trail was started way back in 1690 & it stretches all the way from Mexico City, cuts through Texas & ends in Santa Fe, New Mexico (however it's dated to start as early as 1598).

While most of the trail may be gone, the route that was used back in the day IS still around. In fact...if you look at the map of the Camino Real, you'll see it cuts through a certain part of Texas before you enter New Mexico...

The Camino Real cuts through El Paso, Texas

That's right. The historic route lays on what is currently, Doniphan Dr. One of the historic locations along the Camino Real is the Keystone Heritage Park on 4200 Doniphan Dr. Another notable location along the Camino Real is none other than the historic Rosa's Cantina.

Now sure, the road doesn't look like what it did hundreds of years ago, but considering the history of how many people that must've traveled down that stretch of road centuries ago, it's definitely a contender for THE oldest road (that's still being used) in Texas.

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