(3) Necessary action should be taken so the highway construction authorities can make surveys and prepare plans while plans for the military or industrial site are being prepared. Construction of necessary highways should follow at the earliest possible date after construction or expansion of the installation or facility is an established fact. In this way provision can be made for traffic turning movements, entrance gates, parking areas, highways for initial needs, and right-of-way for highways to serve planned expansion.
(4) Design standards for defense service roads to installations and facilities will vary with the vehicle size and weight characteristics and volume of traffic generated. Accordingly, each should be made the subject of a separate study and constructed to provide effectively and economically the essential highway transportation facilities to a suitable highway, railroad, or waterway.
(5) A preliminary survey indicates that there are an estimated 100 miles of this type of service road to installations of the National Military Establishment which now or will in the next 3 years need improvement.
(6) In event of mobilization, there will be an estimated 2,500 miles of improved service roads required.
C. Recommendations
(1) Enactment of legislation which will authorize the Public Roads Administration to provide for the improvement or construction of a small mileage of officially designated defense service roads during peacetime.
(2) Enactment of Federal highway legislation which will provide for the advance preparation of defense service road plans at the time the final installation or facility plans first become firm and are officially certified as such.
(3) Enactment of legislation which will provide for the immediate diversion of a reasonable amount of Federal-aid highway funds, appropriated for normal highway construction, for plans and construction of officially designated defense service roads, in event of a national emergency established by total mobilization of the Armed Forces.
5.—ACCESS ROADS
A. Definition
(1) “Access roads” are roads that are potentially required but normally do not exist, the construction of which is required to provide access by highway transportation from a suitable highway, railroad, or waterway to material resources or processing points not available from the peacetime economy.
B. Discussion
(1) Access roads are defined and discussed separately because they are normally new highway facilities and their requirements are directly related to the provision for and supply of natural resources.
(2) These roads include such highway facilities as will be required during wartime to provide material resources required in excess of those needed for the peacetime economy or which cannot be obtained for the civilian needs economically. It will generally require considerable time to make, surveys and prepare well-engineered plans for such roads.
