Section 14-B. Highway safety powers and duties

The  department  of
  transportation shall have power to:
    1. Advise and assist local  authorities  as  defined  in  section  one
  hundred  twenty-two  of  the  vehicle and traffic law with their traffic
  problems.
    2. Maintain a continuous survey of traffic conditions  on  the  public
  highways of the state and recommend to the appropriate legislative body,
  department or commission, such changes in rules, orders, regulations and
  existing  law,  including measures for the relief of traffic congestion,
  such as the construction or reconstruction of highways  and  elimination
  of  grade  crossings,  as  the  commissioner  of transportation may deem
  advisable.
    3. Cooperate with the agencies of this and other  states  and  of  the
  federal  government  which  are  connected with national defense, in the
  formulation and execution of plans for the rapid and safe movement  over
  highways  of  troops,  vehicles  of  a  military  nature,  and materials
  affecting the national defense.
    4. Coordinate the activities of the  department  or  agencies  of  the
  state  government  in  a  manner which will best serve to effectuate any
  such plan for the rapid  and  safe  movement  of  troops,  vehicles  and
  materials as referred to in subdivision three of this section.
    5.  Solicit  the  cooperation  of  officials  of the various political
  subdivisions of the state in the proper execution of plans.
    6. Take an inventory, by counties, of the  trucks  and  buses  in  the
  state, publicly and privately owned, which would be available in case of
  emergency affecting the national defense.