Was New Jersey the only state to consider phones a service

[roadman65]

I always remember seeing Gas-Phone- Food- Lodging on NJ Freeways exit service signs. Outside NJ it was just Gas- Food- Lodging.

Was that just a Jersey thing or did other states denote the old pay phones too on their blue exit service signs?

[Rothman]

I always remember seeing Gas-Phone- Food- Lodging on NJ Freeways exit service signs. Outside NJ it was just Gas- Food- Lodging.

Was that just a Jersey thing or did other states denote the old pay phones too on their blue exit service signs?

Lots of others did as well.  Hard to think of any state east of the Mississippi that didn't at least somewhere.

[SectorZ]

Connecticut does, https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8917205,-72.2996496,3a,15.3y,68.2h,93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8HI8vGWl5EzmKeG7oEnAfA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[kphoger]

AFAIK, Minnesota only does for rest areas, not for regular exits.

[Avalanchez71]

Those were posted in several other states back in the day.

[jeffandnicole]

At least 2 locations in NJ where you still will find these outdated phone signs still posted.  No guarantee there's an actual phone off the exit though...

I-295 South approaching Exit 17:  https://goo.gl/maps/A5h8f4LX4RnKUttp6

I-295 North on the Exit 43 off-ramp: https://goo.gl/maps/62fnkYhPVx4ozJ316

[FrCorySticha]

Montana will still post service signs with a phone, especially in areas where cell coverage is weak to non-existent. https://goo.gl/maps/hKuN5L3KHPtpGhDk9

[kphoger]

AFAIK, Minnesota only does for rest areas, not for regular exits.

Montana will still post service signs with a phone, especially in areas where cell coverage is weak to non-existent. https://goo.gl/maps/hKuN5L3KHPtpGhDk9

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

[1995hoo]

I recall there being some pull-off areas on the Thruway once upon a time that didn't have toilets or services but did have drive-up pay phones where the driver could roll down the window to use a pay phone without getting out of the car. I remember this fairly clearly for two reasons: (1) My father was getting frustrated because his call wasn't going through and I kept trying to tell him that I could see he was dialling the wrong area code ("518" when Brooklyn is "718"); (2) Meanwhile, my brother was feeling lousy and took advantage of the phone stop to get out of the car and use a barf bag (don't know why he didn't just puke in the grass). I'm pretty sure the trip must have been in 1984 because I remember the bag had French wording all over it, and 1984 was the year we took a family vacation all over Quebec and came home down I-91, across VT-9 and NY-7 to Albany, and then down the Thruway for a stop in Brooklyn to visit relatives.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

AFAIK, Minnesota only does for rest areas, not for regular exits.

Montana will still post service signs with a phone, especially in areas where cell coverage is weak to non-existent. https://goo.gl/maps/hKuN5L3KHPtpGhDk9

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

Dumb question, but what is that second service sign that looks like a phone with a keyboard?

[Rothman]

AFAIK, Minnesota only does for rest areas, not for regular exits.

Montana will still post service signs with a phone, especially in areas where cell coverage is weak to non-existent. https://goo.gl/maps/hKuN5L3KHPtpGhDk9

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

Dumb question, but what is that second service sign that looks like a phone with a keyboard?

TTY

[FrCorySticha]

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

Yes, Montana does. My link was for a regular exit to St. Regis, MT.

[kphoger]

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

Yes, Montana does. My link was for a regular exit to St. Regis, MT.

Ah, OK.  I saw an entirely blue sign with [VISITOR INFO] and assumed it wasn't a regular exit.

[ran4sh]

At least on the logo signs ("Specific Service" signs), before cell phones, it would have been a requirement for some of the categories of businesses to have a public phone in order to be included on the sign. So specifying "Phone" separately wasn't really necessary. It's not that those other states didn't consider public phones a service or anything like that.

[PurdueBill]

Do they also do so at non-rest area exits?

Yes, Montana does. My link was for a regular exit to St. Regis, MT.

Ah, OK.  I saw an entirely blue sign with [VISITOR INFO] and assumed it wasn't a regular exit.

It is basically the same as this one from Indiana which included a Visitors Center at the exit.  And Phone!!  Unfortunately, such signs seem to disappear when they do heavy work and not come back.  North of there for the SR 25 interchange there were button copy worded blue signs that included PHONE and had FOOD and GAS-LODGING pried off before the signs disappeared too.  (I remember it being a full house once long ago.)  This specimen on I-70 has everything but PHONE, showing Indiana's old standard locations on the sign for all the services in text.  More modern Indiana ones use symbols (and this and one for US 40 Exit 156 include Phone!). 

[kphoger]

Here is an ambiguous one in Illinois.  Which rest area has TTY?  The one coming up, or the one 67 miles down the road?  Or both?

67 miles down the road, in contrast, is this less-ambiguous sign.

[tq-07fan]

In Ohio the word Phone was spelled out on a separate long blue sign under the Rest Area sign in a lot of places. Someone spray painted E.T. Phone Home and it made the front page of the paper.

Jim

[sharkyfour]

Connecticut definitely still has some signs up, but 90% of them or more don't actually have a public phone anymore.

[cbeach40]

Ontario does it for commuter lots and travel plazas
https://goo.gl/maps/pqA61gY1Bdjn36xQ8
https://goo.gl/maps/GpaYRXzvNGLnYGBD7

[ErmineNotyours]

PHONE spelled out.  I actually broke down to this exit and Park & Ride, and called my dad on my cell phone to tell him I wasn't going to make the visit.

[interstatefan990]

Even Hawaii has considered phones a service before:

https://goo.gl/maps/aK776PShaRcJTm4m7