Like so many highways in the United States, the North Tarrant Express follows much older paths. It emerged from reconstructing Interstate 820, thus partially replacing US 80 and the Dixie Overland Highway. The latter was one of the first motor vehicle routes in the United States and the first to link the Atlantic and Pacific shores by asphalt. The North Tarrant Express also tells a story of engineering and how things have changed in just one century.

The highway was designed to improve mobility and relieve traffic in one of the country’s busiest areas. It crosses 84 bridges, 140 kilometers of prestressed concrete beams, 15,000 tons of reinforcements, and 800 million kilos of asphalt. Building it required moving six million cubic meters of soil and installing just under 60 miles of pipes and sewers.

Seen in the temporary peacefulness of night from under one of its many viaducts, with the concrete stretching out forever, the highway seems to stir memories of roads past, with a small fort on the river banks. But this scene fades shortly before dawn as one of the country’s fastest-growing regions wakes up and gets behind the wheel.