§ 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.