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Inventory of Public Roads The Federal Lands Highways (FLH), Central Federal Lands Division conducts an inventory and condition assessment of all public roads and parking lots on national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries over a five year period. This inventory and condition assessment serve as the Service's basic public use road management system. It provides a benchmark from which the Service is able to document the status, condition, funding needs and improvements of the public roads. Geo-spatial data is collected on all roads and parking lots for use with geographic information systems and is available for use by other federal agencies, state agencies, local governments and the public. Public Roads The Service currently manages over 4,900 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. The value of these assets is estimated at $1.5 billion. Road Condition  Parking Lots There are over 5,100 parking lots on Service lands. Paved parking accounts for 15% of Service parking lots. The remaining 85% of the parking is gravel or native material. Parking Lot Condition  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 the over 4,900 miles of roads and 5,100 parking lots shown in the Service's inventory, it has been estimated that the Service would need at least $126 million a year for cyclical replacement funding. |
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a Refuge System Visitors Guide |
