Call box cuts: Culling of Bay Area freeway aids

[ZLoth]

From SF Gate:

Call box cuts: Culling of Bay Area freeway aids

Drivers unfortunate enough to break down on Bay Area freeways will still be able to summon help in the new year on one of those bright yellow emergency call boxes, but they might have to walk farther to find one.

Beginning in January and continuing through the year, construction crews will dismantle and remove 432 of the region's 2,200 call boxes and their blue-and-white identifying signs. They'll be replaced - on the same posts - with signs advising motorists to call 511 Freeway Assist, a service that connects them with the same help center.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[hotdogPi]

3 things:

1. Call boxes once did not work for me when I tried to use them.

2. 432 of 2200 is actually not that much. It's not like they removed every other one.

3. Rivers on a freeway? Read your post again.

[ZLoth]

Danged copy and paste. And, I posted the article because I thought it was interesting.

[pctech]

Here in Louisiana, we have ditched them years ago. The assumption was that most people have cell phones and the cost maintaining them was prohibitive. I never tried to use one, but have heard they weren't reliable.

[Indyroads]

Here in Louisiana, we have ditched them years ago. The assumption was that most people have cell phones and the cost maintaining them was prohibitive. I never tried to use one, but have heard they weren't reliable.

Most states don't have them. California by and large only had them in select areas (like the bay area and toll bridges specifically. Then about 15 years ago they started installing them statewide on nearly all state highways. Today with cell phones being the norm the need is not as great. plus they can be spaces as far as 1 mile apart in rural areas, so they are not as useful. If i were CA i would decommission them except for on the toll bridges and tunnels.

[oscar]

Hawaii still has them, on state highways (nearly identical to Caltrans callbox signage), and some county highways (similar, except one- or two-digit codes replace the route/direction/milemarker code).  However, state route 200 on the Big Island, which has been completely redone over the past few years between mm11 and mm51, has callboxes only between mm28 and mm42.  The focus on erecting new callboxes, and perhaps maintaining old ones, in Hawaii may be shifting to places with poor cellphone coverage.

At least one really remote highway in Canada, QC 389, has a few emergency callboxes.  For the similarly-remote Trans-Labrador Highway, the province will lend satellite phones to travelers, with pickup and dropoff points at various hotels/motels along the way.

[roadman]

Massachusetts had call boxes for some time on I-91 and I-93.  MassHighway got rid of them from both highways in the mid to late 1990s (IIRC), citing maintenance costs and reliability problems.  They were replaced with expanded service patrols, which were initially provided by a local pharmacy chain, and are now provided by a car insurance company (but not the one with the silly green mascot).

Note that the Massachusetts Turnpike never had call boxes.  This is probably because of the number of service plazas, maintenance depots, and state police barracks along the highway.  Some of the smaller barracks (like the one westbound in Southborough) have since been closed and/or converted to MassDOT maintenance depots, but they have a "Call State Police" box located at the entrance door.

[hotdogPi]

Massachusetts had call boxes for some time on I-91 and I-93.  MassHighway got rid of them from both highways in the mid to late 1990s (IIRC), citing maintenance costs and reliability problems.  They were replaced with expanded service patrols, which were initially provided by a local pharmacy chain, and are now provided by a car insurance company (but not the one with the silly green mascot).

I seem to remember those on I-93 and I-495 until about 2007.

[Beeper1]

Rhode Island used to have them on I-295 until the mid-1990s.  No idea if they were reliable or not.  I don't think Connecticut ever had them anywhere.

New York still has them on I-87 in the Adirondacks between Pottersville and AuSable Forks. They are located every 2 miles and are fairly well maintained. This is one area where they are still very much needed, as that area is very remote with few services (and almost no 24-hr services), and very spotty cell covrage.

[SignBridge]

New York City had them years ago on their parkways and expressways. Don't know when they discontinued them. But no longer needed in the cell-phone era I'd say.