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Inventory of Public Use Roads During 2000 and 2001, Federal Lands Highways (FLH), Central Federal Lands Division conducted an inventory and condition assessment of all public roads and parking lots on national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries. This base inventory and condition assessment will serve as a basic public use road management system. It provides a benchmark from which the Service will be able to document the status, condition and funding needs of the public use roads. It will allow the Service to accurately document the improvements that are being made to the public use roads.  Geo-spatial data was collected on all roads and parking lots for use with geographic information systems. This information will be made available on the Service's internet server for use by other federal agencies, state agencies, local governments and the public. The Service is working with FLH to develop an on-going condition assessment program for roads and parking lots to continue this activity into the future. Public Roads The Service currently manages over 4,800 miles of public roads in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and Guam. Approximately 8% of the roads are paved. The remaining 92% are gravel or native material.  For maintenance and improvements to the over 4,800 miles of roads shown in the public roads inventory, the FHWA funding needs estimate for Service roads is about $1.8 billion. Parking Lots There are almost 5,000 parking lots on Service lands. Paved parking accounts for 14% of Service parking lots. The remaining 86% of the parking is gravel or native material.  During peak visitation periods many refuges have inadequate parking to accommodate visitors. This causes visitors to pull off along roadway edges, impacts to the road shoulders, underlying dikes and adjacent vegetation. Safety problems for visitors and wildlife occur because of inadequate parking. For maintenance and improvements to about 5,000 parking lots shown in the inventory, the FHWA funding needs estimate for repairs to refuge and hatchery system parking lots is over $93 million. |
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For a Refuge System Visitors Guide |
