Texas Highways

Texas Highways is a monthly American travel magazine based in Austin and published by the Texas Department of Transportation. Although its institutional origins lie in a state highway-agency employee newsletter, the publication developed into a public-facing magazine devoted to travel within Texas and to the state’s history, landscapes, food, communities, and cultural life. Its editorial mission is to encourage travel to and within Texas, combining practical destination information with reported features, personal essays, historical interpretation, and prominent landscape photography. The publication began in 1953, when the Texas Highway Department renamed its internal Maintenance and Construction Bulletin as Texas Highways. In its initial form, the magazine concentrated on highway design, construction, and maintenance. The state’s 1959 authorization to promote tourism led to a reorganization of the agency’s Travel and Information Division, creating a stronger institutional basis for travel-oriented editorial work. Under editor Frank Lively, appointed in 1962, the magazine gradually expanded its scope to include Texas history, scenery, and destinations. Lively later advocated transforming it from an employee publication into a magazine available to the general public. Public subscriptions began in May 1974. The first public issue focused on Native Americans in Texas, signaling the publication’s broader cultural and historical ambitions. In 1975, a concurrent resolution signed by Governor Dolph Briscoe designated Texas Highways as the official travel magazine of Texas. That designation remains central to its identity: the magazine functions both as a state-associated publication and as an editorially independent-looking regional magazine aimed at residents, visitors, and people interested in Texas culture. Texas Highways covers major destinations as well as small towns and less familiar roadside locations. Its print content includes travel-service material, long-form reported articles, food and drink coverage, archival and historical features, and recurring departments such as Postcards, Open Road, Dispatch, Speaking of Texas, Texana, Like a Local, Fuel, and Vintage. Its digital work includes Roadside Oddities, which explores unusual landmarks and attractions. The magazine is particularly associated with photography that presents Texas geography and built environments as central subjects rather than merely illustrations. The publication has maintained a substantial national and international readership. Circulation reached approximately 400,000 by 1987 and peaked at about 439,836 in 1993. By 1995, subscribers were located in every U.S. state and in more than 100 countries. Reported circulation was approximately 223,000 in 2006 and 300,000 in 2022. The magazine also belongs to the City and Regional Magazine Association and the International Regional Magazine Association. Texas Highways has developed a stronger literary and cultural profile in recent years. The Open Road personal-essay section, introduced in 2018, gives Texas writers a recurring platform to reflect on particular places. The section helped produce the magazine’s first National Magazine Award nomination in 2021, followed by another nomination in 2022 for coverage associated with the September 2021 Cowboy Issue. The magazine and its contributors have also received recognition from the Texas Institute of Letters, the American Society of Magazine Editors, and regional magazine organizations. In July 2024, Texas Highways introduced its first major redesign in nearly a decade through a 50th-anniversary issue titled Small Town Summer. The redesign subsequently received the City and Regional Magazine Association’s Excellence in Design award in 2025. The publication remains active as a print and digital brand, combining official-state travel promotion with journalism, literary nonfiction, photography, and regional cultural coverage.

Texas Highways originated in 1953 within the Texas Highway Department. The agency renamed its employee newsletter, previously known as the Maintenance and Construction Bulletin, and used the new title for a publication initially focused on highway design, construction, and maintenance. Its early identity was therefore administrative and technical rather than consumer-oriented. A shift toward tourism and public information followed the passage of a 1959 Texas law authorizing state promotion of tourism. The department reorganized its Travel and Information Division, and division director Tom Taylor appointed Frank Lively as editor in 1962. Lively broadened the magazine’s editorial range by adding stories about Texas history, scenery, and travel destinations. This helped establish the visual and cultural direction that would later define the publication. In 1970, Lively proposed turning Texas Highways into a public travel magazine. The transition took place in May 1974, when the publication began accepting subscriptions from the general public. Its first public issue was devoted to Native Americans in Texas, demonstrating that the magazine intended to address historical and cultural subjects as well as travel logistics. In 1975, Governor Dolph Briscoe signed a concurrent resolution of the Texas Legislature designating Texas Highways the official travel magazine of Texas. Lively remained editor until 1990 and continued an active relationship with the magazine after retiring. Tommie Pinkard followed him, and Jack Lowry became editor in 1992. Jill Lawless, who had worked for the publication for 27 years, served as editor until her retirement in 2016. Emily Roberts Stone became editor-in-chief that year. The magazine expanded its readership substantially during the late twentieth century. Circulation reached about 400,000 in 1987 and peaked at approximately 439,836 in 1993. By 1995, subscribers could be found in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 100 countries. Circulation later stood at roughly 223,000 in 2006 and around 300,000 in 2022, reflecting the publication’s continuing reach beyond Texas despite changes in the magazine market. Editorially, Texas Highways developed into a broad regional publication. Its coverage includes destinations, small towns, nature, history, food and drink, arts, architecture, and cultural traditions. The magazine is especially recognized for its landscape photography and for presenting lesser-known places alongside major attractions. Print departments include front-of-book travel information, personal essays and columns gathered under Postcards, longer reported features, the Fuel food section, and Vintage, which combines historical photographs with contextual writing. Online, Roadside Oddities focuses on unusual roadside landmarks. The Open Road section, launched in 2018 under deputy editor Michael Hoinski, added a regular literary component. Each installment presents a personal essay by a Texas writer about a specific place. Contributors have included Lacy M. Johnson, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Luis Jaramillo, Lauren Hough, Emily Gogolak, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, ire’ne lara silva, and Roberto José Andrade Franco. The section’s work has appeared in recognition programs associated with The Best American Essays, and a 2020 group of essays produced the magazine’s first National Magazine Award nomination in 2021. A second nomination followed in 2022 for lifestyle journalism connected with the Cowboy Issue. Texas Highways has also earned honors from the Texas Institute of Letters, the American Society of Magazine Editors, and the City and Regional Magazine Association. In July 2024, the publication marked its 50th anniversary as a public magazine with the Small Town Summer issue and a substantial redesign. That redesign later won a 2025 CRMA Excellence in Design award. The magazine remains an active print and digital publication of the Texas Department of Transportation, combining public tourism promotion with regional journalism and cultural storytelling.

1. 2025Redesign wins CRMA Excellence in Design

   The 50th-anniversary redesign receives the City and Regional Magazine Association’s Excellence in Design award.

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2. 2024Fiftieth-anniversary redesign

   The Small Town Summer issue marks the public magazine’s 50th anniversary and introduces a major redesign.

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3. 2021First National Magazine Award nomination

   Open Road essays earn Texas Highways its first National Magazine Award nomination.

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4. 2018Open Road launches

   The magazine introduces a monthly personal-essay section focused on particular Texas places.

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5. 1993Circulation reaches reported peak

   Circulation peaks at approximately 439,836.

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6. 1987Circulation reaches approximately 400,000

   Reported circulation reaches about 400,000 copies.

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7. 1975Official travel magazine designation

   Texas is designated the magazine’s official subject and Texas Highways is designated the official travel magazine of the state.

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8. 1974Public subscriptions begin

   Texas Highways becomes available to the general public through subscriptions, with its first public issue focused on Native Americans in Texas.

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9. 1962Frank Lively becomes editor

   Travel and Information Division director Tom Taylor appoints Frank Lively editor; the magazine begins adding more history, scenery, and travel material.

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10. 1959Texas authorizes state tourism promotion

    A state law authorizes Texas to promote tourism, followed by a reorganization of the department’s Travel and Information Division.

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11. 1953Texas Highways begins as an employee publication

    The Texas Highway Department renames its Maintenance and Construction Bulletin as Texas Highways, initially covering highway design, construction, and maintenance.

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A state-associated but editorially broad regional travel magazine that promotes exploration of Texas through destination journalism, history, food, nature, arts, culture, literary essays, and photography. The brand emphasizes both iconic places and overlooked towns, landscapes, and roadside attractions.

• Texas Highways monthly magazinePrint travel magazine1953

  The core monthly publication covers travel destinations, history, nature, food and drink, arts, culture, and communities across Texas. It combines practical travel information with reported features, personal essays, archival material, and photography, with particular attention to small towns and less familiar destinations.

• Texas Highways digital editionDigital media

  The brand’s online publication extends the magazine’s destination and cultural coverage through web articles and recurring features. Digital content includes travel stories, food and drink material, historical coverage, and Roadside Oddities, a series about unusual Texas landmarks.

• Open RoadPersonal-essay series2018

  Open Road is a recurring literary section launched in 2018. Each monthly essay asks a Texas writer to examine a particular place, connecting geography and travel with memory, identity, history, and personal experience. The section has helped raise the magazine’s profile in literary journalism.

• FuelFood and drink section

  Fuel is Texas Highways’ food and drink department, covering restaurants, ingredients, regional cooking, culinary traditions, and other aspects of Texas’s food culture.

• VintageHistory and photography section

  Vintage pairs archival photography with historical explanation, using visual records to interpret Texas places, people, events, and cultural change.

• 2024Fiftieth-anniversary magazine redesignGeneration change

  The magazine marked five decades as a public travel publication and had not undergone a major redesign in nearly ten years.

  What changed. Texas Highways introduced a new design through the July 2024 Small Town Summer issue.

  Aftermath. The redesign won the City and Regional Magazine Association’s Excellence in Design award in 2025.

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• 2018Launch of the Open Road literary sectionProduct launch

  Texas Highways sought to deepen its storytelling about places by adding a regular first-person literary format.

  What changed. The magazine introduced Open Road, a recurring personal-essay series by Texas writers.

  Aftermath. The section generated award attention, including National Magazine Award recognition and further literary visibility for the publication.

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• 1970Proposal to convert the internal newsletter into a public travel magazineStrategy

  The publication had evolved beyond its original highway-department employee audience as the state increased its focus on tourism promotion.

  What changed. Editor Frank Lively proposed opening the magazine to public readership and orienting it toward travel, history, scenery, and Texas destinations.

  Aftermath. Public subscriptions began in 1974, establishing the modern Texas Highways publishing model.

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• 2025Small Town Summer redesign wins regional magazine design award

  The 50th-anniversary redesign received the City and Regional Magazine Association’s Excellence in Design award.

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• 2024Texas Highways launches 50th-anniversary redesign

  The July 2024 Small Town Summer issue introduced the magazine’s first major redesign in nearly a decade.

  Product generation
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• 2022Magazine earns second consecutive National Magazine Award nomination

  Stories from the September 2021 Cowboy Issue received a nomination in the Lifestyle Journalism category.

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• 2021Texas Highways receives first National Magazine Award nomination

  Three Open Road essays published in 2020 earned the magazine its first National Magazine Award nomination, in Columns and Commentary.

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• 2018Open Road section launches

  Texas Highways introduced Open Road, a recurring personal-essay section in which Texas writers examine a particular place in the state.

  Product launch
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• 1975Texas designates Texas Highways its official travel magazine

  A concurrent resolution signed by Governor Dolph Briscoe designated Texas Highways as the official travel magazine of Texas.

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• 1974Texas Highways begins public subscription publication

  The magazine began accepting public subscriptions after evolving from an internal highway-department newsletter into a public travel publication.

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1. Texas Highways
2. Texas Highways official website