This was a new one on me--
--so I asumed it either must be narrowly regional--

http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18932

--or very obscure. However, it yields some 20,000 hits, which suggests it's making a comeback. Can anyone verify

My intiial reaction is that it refers to a road made by a Caterpillar tractor, i.e a crude pathway such as a logging road. I hadn't heard the term in many years.

On a quick eyeballing, a high percentage of the ghits seem to be spurious: such things as "Black Cat Road" and "Wild Cat Road". That said, there are still quite a few legitimate ghits. The term seems to be used in reference to roads in ski areas (roads made over the snow?)

But the British Columbia statutes provide, "cat road" means an unsurfaced road of a temporary nature over which logs or materials are dragged by any means.

Very interesting, Dale.

nerd: Yes, and thank you

The thrust of my post, however, asks if the term might be making a comeback

I've never heard it used, Dale, but I like the history Asa suspects. I love those little tractor thingies.