service road

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Noun

service road (plural service roads)

1. A relatively narrow road which runs alongside a major transportation route, such as a canal, a railway line, or a controlled-access highway.
   • 2006 Dec. 3, John R. Quain, "Real-Time Traffic Reports? Get Real ↗," New York Times (retrieved 28 July 2014):

     [I]t can only pinpoint phones to within a few hundred feet. That makes it difficult to tell if a signal is coming from a vehicle on the highway or from one on a parallel service road.

   • 2014 April 30, Hannah Spray, "GPS tracking led police to Woods's body ↗," Faceoff.com (Canada) (retrieved 28 July 2014):

     RCMP issued a news release reporting that a passing motorist had found a woman's body in a ditch next to a service road adjacent to Highway 16.

2. A route which enters or circulates through an institution, compound, land area, etc. for purposes of private access, maintenance, or security.
   • 2004 Dec. 8, Karen Skyes, "Hike Of The Week ↗," Seattle Post-Intelligencer (retrieved 28 July 2014):

     From the day-use area behind Longmire Lodge, we walked up the service road behind the ranger station and employee housing.

   • 2007 Feb. 1, "Pieces of WTC found beneath road ↗," USA Today (retrieved 28 July 2014):

     Large steel columns from the fallen World Trade Center have been found beneath a service road being excavated at Ground Zero.

   • 2012 May 12, Laura Barton, "A walk in the grounds of Dunham Massey ↗," The Guardian (UK) (retrieved 28 July 2014):

     We walk the service road, past the stables, up the slope, to where the watermill stands.

Synonyms

• (road alongside a major transportation route) frontage road, parallel road
• (road which enters or circulates through a defined area) access road

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