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Safety Rest Areas: Eastland County Westbound

(New facility opened Spring 2016)
Eastland County Eastbound is the partner for Eastland County Westbound
2 sets of Men's and Women's Restrooms Drinking Water Family/Assisted Restroom Handicap Access Interpretive Displays Picnic Tables Storm Shelter

Image Gallery
The interior displays feature an actual Model T, a tribute to the old Bankhead Highway where these vehicles once drove on
The Westbound facility features a Historical Marker commemorating the old Bankhead Highway where a section is located within the site
The Westbound facility located on a bluff and features arbor lookouts to take advantage of the views
The new building features a butterfly roof that routes rainwater to an above ground tank
spacer View toward the new building's entrance
View toward the new building's entrance
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Location
  • IH 20 - Westbound, 8 miles east of Ranger (between Ranger and Thurber)
  • Latitude = 32.4906 Longitude = -98.5492
  • Milepost: 359

Features
  • 2 sets of Men's and Women's Restrooms
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  • Interpretive Displays
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  • Air-conditioned lobby and restrooms
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  • Picnic Tables
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  • Drinking Water
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  • Playground
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  • Family/Assisted Restroom
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  • Separate Truck and Passenger Parking
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  • Group Picnic Facility
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  • Storm Shelter
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  • Handicap Access

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    Miscellaneous
    • New facility opened Spring 2016. The building design with simple forms and earthly material in harmony with their surrounding, is a tribute to park buildings, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930's, whose remnants were found nearby. The building's butterfly roof form is an expressive method of rooftop rainwater harvesting which underlays sustainable building practices found in many CCC's structures
    • This part of Interstate 20 follows the route of the Bankhead Highway constructed in the 1920's and stretched from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California. A section of the old Bankhead Highway is located within the Westbound site, and is marked by a Historical Marker dedicated on April 13, 2016.
    • Eastland County is named for William Mosby Eastland, an officer during the Texas Revolution. Eastland was the first of the 17 captives, and the only officer, to draw a fatal black bean during the Black Bean Episode
    • The westbound facility is 8 miles east Ranger (named after Texas Rangers) where oil well McClesky No. 1 drilled in October 1917 began a mammoth oil boom that led the oil industry to reappraise Texas as an oil producing area and allayed fears of national oil shortage which had been growing since 1900
    • The westbound facility is 8 miles west of Thurber which was a principble bituminous coal mining town in Texas in 1918
    • Located in the "Panhandle Plains" region of Texas. Visit our Texas Highways Magazine to find out interesting places and events happening in this region.