Freeway Service Patrol

[blawp]

Does any place implement the Freeway Service Patrol-type of program better than Los Angeles County? I used to have a 50 mile commute along the Ventura Freeway / Foothill Freeway and I saw these trucks every 5-10 miles, at the ready. It's a great service and I'm glad they are out there helping motorists.

[Brandon]

IDOT has "Minutemen" along all the expressways in IDOT District 1 (Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry, and Will Counties), and ISTHA has their own H.E.L.P. trucks alogn the entire Tollway System.  Then, Indiana has "Hoosier Helpers" in the Calumet Region and Indianapolis.  I've seen plenty of these trucks around helping people.

[NE2]

Nope. California is best at everything.

[kphoger]

I'm famliar with the Motorist Assist trucks here in Kansas, as well as the Ángeles Verdes on the toll roads of México.  I'm not sure how the Motorist Assist trucks are dispatched, but I believe the Ángeles Verdes no longer actively patrol the highways but rather must be called in the case of a breakdown.  Certainly neither one sounds as good as what you mention.

[myosh_tino]

I believe the Freeway Service Patrol up here in the S.F. Bay Area are supposed to be on the road actively looking for motorists that need assistance, not parked on the side of the road waiting for a call.  Either way, they provide a pretty valuable service and help minimize delays by getting disabled vehicles off to the shoulder (or off the freeway entirely).

[qguy]

Does any place implement the Freeway Service Patrol-type of program better than Los Angeles County?

PennDOT: http://philadelphia.pahighways.com/philadelphiatmc.html

(with a tip of the hat to one Jeff Kitsko for pulling all that info together in one place)

[roadfro]

Nevada DOT also has Freeway Service Patrol vans on I-15 & US 95 in Las Vegas and I-80 & US 395 in Reno.

[deathtopumpkins]

Both Virginia and Massachusetts do this, and in both places I have seen trucks very frequently (either in transit or assisting a disabled motorist - never stopped otherwise).

[on_wisconsin]

Wisconsin also has a freeway service patrol service (highway helpers) in the Madison and Milwaukee areas. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/stoc/patrols.htm

[Zmapper]

Colorado has a road patrol service along E-470, though I don't know if there is such service along other routes.

[cpzilliacus]

Does any place implement the Freeway Service Patrol-type of program better than Los Angeles County? I used to have a 50 mile commute along the Ventura Freeway / Foothill Freeway and I saw these trucks every 5-10 miles, at the ready. It's a great service and I'm glad they are out there helping motorists.

Maryland's State Highway Administration and the Maryland Transportation [toll Authority patrol their freeway-class roads and crossings.

I don't know how they match up against the ones in the Southland.