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.

   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.

   2014 April 30, Hannah Spray, “GPS tracking led police to Woods's body”, in Faceoff.com, Canada, retrieved 28 Jul 2014

   1 more example

   [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.

   2006 December 3, John R. Quain, “Real-Time Traffic Reports? Get Real”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Jul 2014

   Synonyms: frontage road, parallel road

2. A route which enters or circulates through an institution, compound, land area, etc. for purposes of private access, maintenance, or security.

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

   2012 May 12, Laura Barton, “A walk in the grounds of Dunham Massey”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 28 Jul 2014

   2 more examples

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

   2004 December 8, Karen Skyes, “Hike Of The Week”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 28 Jul 2014

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

   2007 February 1, “Pieces of WTC found beneath road”, in USA Today, retrieved 28 Jul 2014

   Synonyms: access road, driveway