Description

A highway strip, road runway, or road base is a section of highway, motorway (autobahn), or other form of public road that is specially built to act as a runway for (mostly) military aircraft and to serve as an auxiliary military air base. These runways allow military aircraft to continue operating even if their primary air bases, which are vulnerable targets in wartime, are rendered unusable.

C-130 Hercules landing on autobahn A29 near the city of Ahlhorn during a NATO exercise, March 1984. Source: Wikicommons, Author: US DOD

Countries that have built highway strips for military use include Germany, Russia, Estonia, China, Japan, Singapore, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Switzerland, Poland, India, Pakistan and the Czech republic.