Most crevasses occur in the short steep shear zone between them, where the road climbs along Leverett Glacier from near the southernmost point of the Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Plateau more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level.

[11] The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded a new "Traverse Program" in an effort to lower cost and potentially develop a more reliable method of supplying the South Pole Station.

[1] The road also facilitated the movement of heavy equipment needed to implement its proposed South Pole Connectivity Program, a planned optical fiber link between the South Pole and the French–Italian Concordia Station located at Dome C at the edge of the Antarctic Plateau; Concordia has 24-hour access to geosynchronous satellites.

The road to McMurdo might provide a regularly maintained alternate route for such a link; however, opinions vary as to the shear zone section's suitability for a long-term cable.

[13] A 7 February 2006 NSF press release stated that 110 tons (100 tonnes) of cargo had been delivered overland to the South Pole Station in a "proof of concept" of the highway.

[14] On its return from the South Pole the Moon Reagan Transarctic Expedition achieved a record breaking 13 day traverse by vehicle of SPoT.

[16] In May 2013, a large land train of tracked vehicles got bogged down in a massive snow storm en route to the south pole, and it took several days to dig out.