The Defense Department is considering a new, low-tech approach to countering roadside bombs that are the scourge of U.S. forces in Iraq -- construct new roads for supply convoys that simply bypass densely populated, high-threat areas.

The Army is seeking $167 million in military construction funds as part of the Pentagon's soon-to-be detailed $65.3 billion supplemental spending request for fiscal year 2006 to pave roads capable of supporting two-way traffic, complete with shoulders, drainage structures and interchanges to connect with existing supply routes, according to a draft version of the request.

Rather than trying to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs) head-on with new technologies and tactics, the Defense Department is looking to reduce risk to convoys by charting routes around danger zones.

“Significant numbers of military convoys are subject to increased exposure to improvised explosive device attacks when they transit through densely populated areas in Iraq,” states the draft budget document obtained by InsideDefense.com and set to be delivered to Congress soon. “Failure to provide these routes will result in continued exposure of U.S. and coalition forces as well as Iraqi non-combatants to unacceptable insurgent threats to include IED and vehicle borne IED and direct fire exposure.”

The spending request does not specify where the bypass routes would be built, nor the total size of the new roads this funding will provide.

In addition to this road construction initiative, the Pentagon's supplemental spending request also includes $1.4 billion to purchase, develop and sustain technologies linked to defeating the IED threat to U.S. forces.

This funding would be allocated for “equipment and materials used to reduce the effects of IED detonations for safe operations as well as training the force to mitigate the effect of IED employment,” according to the budget documents.

There have been approximately 28,000 IED incidents in Iraq between April 2003 and November 2005, according to Jan. 24 briefing slides prepared by Multi-National Force-Iraq. These explosive devices have led to thousands of U.S. military causalities, including hundreds of deaths, according to the Defense Department.

Insurgents constructing these devices have managed to improve their sophistication beyond the U.S. military's ability to consistently defeat them. The Defense Department has organized a dedicated group to explore options for a proverbial silver bullet to defeat IEDs. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has invested in a number of systems designed to clear routes -- such as the Cougar, the Buffalo and unmanned systems. To detect roadside bombs, the U.S. military is relying on a range of sensors -- from those carried in airborne platforms to bomb-sniffing dogs. The Pentagon has invested as well in individual body armor for soldiers and armored vehicles.