With most people now having cell phones, many states have removed most of their roadside emergency call boxes. I was wondering, does your state still have them?
Here in Arizona, the few that remain seem to be located on rural, non-interstate highways. I presume the reason for keeping them in those areas is due to weak cell phone coverage.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on August 18, 2014, 02:30:26 PM
With most people now having cell phones, many states have removed most of their roadside emergency call boxes. I was wondering, does your state still have them?
Here in Arizona, the few that remain seem to be located on rural, non-interstate highways. I presume the reason for keeping them in those areas is due to weak cell phone coverage.
Arkansas never had them, but the Prairie Grove phone booth is back in action ;)
The PA Turnpike is mandated to keep them. There was a story in the Philly Inquirer not too long ago about that.
The only part of Illinois that had them was Metro East (St Clair & Madison Counties). Chicagoland has never had them as far as I know.
Massachusetts used to have them on I-91 for the whole length through the state, and I believe I-495 had them as well.
New York did (and may still) have them every two miles along I-87 in the Adirondacks between Exits 26 and 35. To my knowledge, they have never worked, but the 2006 improvements to the system may have fixed that. This area was a dead zone until pretty recently, as a few nasty accidents north of Exit 30 put political pressure on the Adirondack Park Agency to allow cell towers along state highways.
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 18, 2014, 03:55:42 PM
Massachusetts used to have them on I-91 for the whole length through the state, and I believe I-495 had them as well.
I-95 between the RI State Line and Canton had them as well as I-93 from roughly Woburn to the NH State Line.
I haven't been down that way in a couple years, but as far as I know, Georgia's I-185 still has them.
Quote from: cl94 on August 18, 2014, 05:14:44 PM
New York did (and may still) have them every two miles along I-87 in the Adirondacks between Exits 26 and 35. To my knowledge, they have never worked, but the 2006 improvements to the system may have fixed that. This area was a dead zone until pretty recently, as a few nasty accidents north of Exit 30 put political pressure on the Adirondack Park Agency to allow cell towers along state highways.
They were still there when I was last on the road in 2012.
The only place I recall seeing them recently is California. They're all over the place down there.
I haven't seen any here (Louisiana) since the 90's or so I think.
The UK (which has a much better cell phone coverage on main roads than the US in general - due to main roads not being as remote) is still using them, even upgrading them and putting new ones when widening motorways.
Quote from: english si on August 19, 2014, 07:40:59 AM
The UK (which has a much better cell phone coverage on main roads than the US in general - due to main roads not being as remote) is still using them, even upgrading them and putting new ones when widening motorways.
This is likely because the UK also has very strict laws restricting the use of cellphones while driving.
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 18, 2014, 05:19:41 PM
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 18, 2014, 03:55:42 PM
Massachusetts used to have them on I-91 for the whole length through the state, and I believe I-495 had them as well.
I-95 between the RI State Line and Canton had them as well as I-93 from roughly Woburn to the NH State Line.
Forgot about the ones on I-95 and I-93. Now I'm wondering if there were any on I-190 or I-195...
California still has them and (I think) they still work. Though they are mostly on the freeways - urban and rural. Any cell phone call to 911 in CA is answered by the CHP
Wisconsin - never had em.
Nevada never had a whole lot of call boxes. There's a couple on US 50, between Lake Tahoe and Carson City that have been there for a while. NDOT installed a bunch as part of a widening project along I-15 between the California state line/Primm and the south end of the Las Vegas Valley back in the mid 2000s--the spacing emulates those seen in California. Other than those examples, I can't think of any more in Nevada at all.
The ones on I-93 were removed not because of people using cellphones, but because there was a time that they didn't work, resulting in someone's death. (Saying any more would give away who I am.)
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 19, 2014, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 18, 2014, 05:19:41 PM
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 18, 2014, 03:55:42 PM
Massachusetts used to have them on I-91 for the whole length through the state, and I believe I-495 had them as well.
I-95 between the RI State Line and Canton had them as well as I-93 from roughly Woburn to the NH State Line.
Forgot about the ones on I-95 and I-93. Now I'm wondering if there were any on I-190 or I-195...
I-190 never had them. OTOH, I-195 from the RI State Line to the Braga Bridge
might have had them. Call Box installations along Interstates in MA seemed to be a late 60s/early 70s thing; I-190 came well after such.
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 07:48:33 AM
The ones on I-93 were removed not because of people using cellphones, but because there was a time that they didn't work, resulting in someone's death. (Saying any more would give away who I am.)
Huh?
Quote from: hbelkins on August 20, 2014, 11:19:13 AM
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 07:48:33 AM
The ones on I-93 were removed not because of people using cellphones, but because there was a time that they didn't work, resulting in someone's death. (Saying any more would give away who I am.)
Huh?
June 30, 2006. Someone I know had a flat tire between exits 41 and 42 on I-93 north. He couldn't get it fixed. He tried using the call boxes twice, but they didn't work (the people working for the call boxes ignored it). At 9:45 PM, someone crashed into him on the side of the road and he died. Because the call boxes did not do anything useful, they were removed.
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 11:41:12 AM
June 30, 2006. Someone I know had a flat tire between exits 41 and 42 on I-93 north. He couldn't get it fixed. He tried using the call boxes twice, but they didn't work (the people working for the call boxes ignored it). At 9:45 PM, someone crashed into him on the side of the road and he died. Because the call boxes did not do anything useful, they were removed.
That sounds like negligent homicide to me because the call operators ignored a man who later then died. That sucks either way.
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 07:48:33 AM
(Saying any more would give away who I am.)
Bah. We really don't worry too much about that here as we do get together from time to time. Check out the road meet section for more.
I'm not sure about other parts of California, but around the Bay Area most of the call boxes have been removed. The poles on which they were mounted remain, with a sign posted saying to dial 511 for roadside assistance. I think they used to have a call box every 1/4 mile, but now I would estimate the spacing to be closer to ever 1-1.5 miles.
The one and only time I attempted to use a call box, which was around 1997 on CA-4 over the Willow Pass, the thing was completely dead and useless. I had to hike down the hill and use a pay phone (another thing that is slowly disappearing).
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 11:41:12 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on August 20, 2014, 11:19:13 AM
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 07:48:33 AM
The ones on I-93 were removed not because of people using cellphones, but because there was a time that they didn't work, resulting in someone's death. (Saying any more would give away who I am.)
Huh?
June 30, 2006. Someone I know had a flat tire between exits 41 and 42 on I-93 north. He couldn't get it fixed. He tried using the call boxes twice, but they didn't work (the people working for the call boxes ignored it). At 9:45 PM, someone crashed into him on the side of the road and he died. Because the call boxes did not do anything useful, they were removed.
MassHighway was already in the process of reviewing the need for call boxes when this happened. All this incident did was to accellerate the removal of the call boxes from Massachusetts highways entirely.
Quote from: 1 on August 20, 2014, 11:41:12 AM
June 30, 2006. Someone I know had a flat tire between exits 41 and 42 on I-93 north. He couldn't get it fixed. He tried using the call boxes twice, but they didn't work (the people working for the call boxes ignored it). At 9:45 PM, someone crashed into him on the side of the road and he died. Because the call boxes did not do anything useful, they were removed.
Saying that didn't do anything to reveal your identity.
--broken quote fix --sso
Quote from: pctech on August 19, 2014, 07:38:24 AM
I haven't seen any here (Louisiana) since the 90's or so I think.
The Cross Lake bridge in Shreveport (I-220) had them I believe until the early or mid 2000s. I noticed them all gone from the Atchafalaya Floodway Bridgeon I-10 though. I guess it was the 90s when they were removed?
I guess remembering what call-boxes were qualifies this for the "You're too old if you remember..." thread in the Off Topic Dept. :-D
I believe these are all gone now in NJ. Last ones I remember were along the Atlantic City Expressway.
Call boxes are still in use through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado on I-70, mainly because the canyon is deep and narrow and cellphone coverage is nearly impossible to get through there. I'm not sure if there are call boxes off the exit ramps as well (most exits through the canyon having some sort of rest area facilities), which would benefit those hiking / biking and rafting through the canyon who may need help.
Considering the call boxes were likely installed when I-70 was "officially" completed there in 1989 (when cellphones were still big, bulky luxury items), they may have indirectly doubled as a pilot program for CDOT to determine if call boxes should be extended to other areas as well.
Quote from: roadman on August 19, 2014, 09:56:56 AMThis is likely because the UK also has very strict laws restricting the use of cellphones while driving.
Nope, because to use an emergency telephone, you can't also be driving (or in the driving seat) and therefore you can use your mobile as you aren't in the driving seat with the engine on.
Given you have to get out of your car in event of a breakdown (and pulling over to the shoulder), you can use your phone then. Plus you can use your phone with a hands free kit.
And such things as passengers exist!
The Highways Agency have actively been posting marker posts every 500m that display marker post info that you can read at traffic speed to aid people legally using mobiles on the motorway after incidents - why on earth would they waste money if it was illegal.
I do not know about Georgia or the Carolinas.
I do know that Florida still had a handful of them along Interstates 75 and 95 as recently as July 27.
I wish that every state still had emergency call boxes, because not everyone has Big Red (Verizon Wireless) or Big Orange (American Telephone & Telegraph).
Hawaii still has some in areas of poor cellphone coverage, including some newly-installed callboxes on one of the newer and more remote segments of HI 200 (Saddle Road), and some on county roads too. But I think they've been fading away in urban areas.
In this and so many other things, Hawaii DOT apes Caltrans, much as Alaska DOT&PF sometimes mimics Washington state DOT.
I don't recall ever seeing a callbox in Alaska, or elsewhere in the Arctic, despite their generally poor-to-nonexistent cellphone coverage, except a maintenance yard on the super-remote YT 6 between Ross River and the NWT border reportedly has an emergency satellite phone. In Labrador, last I heard the provincial government was still lending satellite phones (programmed to only call the RCMP) to travelers on the Trans-Labrador Highway. But Quebec has callboxes on its part of the Trans-Labrador loop (QC 389), and there are some on the municipally-owned James Bay Highway to Radisson.
Quote from: english si on August 23, 2014, 11:31:15 AM
Quote from: roadman on August 19, 2014, 09:56:56 AMThis is likely because the UK also has very strict laws restricting the use of cellphones while driving.
Nope, because to use an emergency telephone, you can't also be driving (or in the driving seat) and therefore you can use your mobile as you aren't in the driving seat with the engine on.
Given you have to get out of your car in event of a breakdown (and pulling over to the shoulder), you can use your phone then. Plus you can use your phone with a hands free kit.
And such things as passengers exist!
The Highways Agency have actively been posting marker posts every 500m that display marker post info that you can read at traffic speed to aid people legally using mobiles on the motorway after incidents - why on earth would they waste money if it was illegal.
If I'm not mistaken, in order for a stretch of road to be classified as a motorway, unless it was grandfathered in, it has to have emergency phones, right?
I can't recall ever seeing an emergency callbox in Washington. When I think of emergency callboxes, I think of California.
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 19, 2014, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 18, 2014, 05:19:41 PM
Quote from: Rainking75 on August 18, 2014, 03:55:42 PM
Massachusetts used to have them on I-91 for the whole length through the state, and I believe I-495 had them as well.
I-95 between the RI State Line and Canton had them as well as I-93 from roughly Woburn to the NH State Line.
Forgot about the ones on I-95 and I-93. Now I'm wondering if there were any on I-190 or I-195...
RI also had call boxes on I-95, I-195, and I-295 at one time. From what I heard, most of them didn't work and they were constantly being hit by vehicles or vandalized. My mother-in-law found out first hand that they didn't work when she tried to use one when she broke down on I-295. I guess it became too costly to try to maintain them and they were taken down, don't remember when exactly but I think it was in the early 2000's.
Quote from: jake on August 23, 2014, 03:09:00 PMIf I'm not mistaken, in order for a stretch of road to be classified as a motorway, unless it was grandfathered in, it has to have emergency phones, right?
No.
All motorways have phones, IIRC (there might be small stretches that don't have them), but it's not a necessary part of being one, merely assumed to be part of one (ditto hard shoulders, a median, grade-separation, lack of traffic signals - which are all violated more blatantly).
And non-motorways even have phones at times (if Trunk/ex-Trunk and in rareish cases)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sabre-roads.org.uk%2Fwiki%2Fimages%2Fthumb%2F0%2F08%2FBrentford_Interchange_%25289%2529.JPG%2F800px-Brentford_Interchange_%25289%2529.JPG&hash=3b408e7aed022a2f1103a56a836b4487fb7c5d5c)
this the A4 in the middle of Brentwood with the M4 running elevated. Mobile signal is good, there's always people around, but there's a phone.
Quote from: vdeane on August 18, 2014, 05:59:00 PMQuote from: cl94 on August 18, 2014, 05:14:44 PMNew York did (and may still) have them every two miles along I-87 in the Adirondacks between Exits 26 and 35. To my knowledge, they have never worked, but the 2006 improvements to the system may have fixed that. This area was a dead zone until pretty recently, as a few nasty accidents north of Exit 30 put political pressure on the Adirondack Park Agency to allow cell towers along state highways.
They were still there when I was last on the road in 2012.
The remaining call boxes were removed from the Northway in 2023. Difficulty in obtaining needed parts for maintenance as well as low usage were cited as reasons for their removal.
End of an era - State Police to remove Northway call box system (https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/end-of-an-era-state-police-to-remove-northway-call-box-system-cbs6-rewind-technology)
In Seattle, the I-90 floating bridge has them (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.590087,-122.2725417,3a,60.4y,334.05h,89.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sP0hLXA5REgs8m07RqDxucA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0.8083954257496515%26panoid%3DP0hLXA5REgs8m07RqDxucA%26yaw%3D334.05481086930524!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D), but the new 520 bridge does not. The Aurora Bridge (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6440058,-122.3472061,3a,34.2y,110.11h,73.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suUoxASuSFTFrHPxCB7l2ZA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D16.023227631911425%26panoid%3DuUoxASuSFTFrHPxCB7l2ZA%26yaw%3D110.11340853205336!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) also has them, but they're primarily intended as a suicide prevention measure (which doesn't seem very relevant since the fence was installed, but they're still being maintained.
Also, major tunnels pretty much always have call boxes because an emergency can be a much bigger issue in a tunnel, and cell service can be flaky (though a lot of the time these days there are systems to allow cell service in tunnels for emergency use). I-90 (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5900136,-122.2996917,3a,90y,85.1h,84.38t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sVQPgiudlEi6mwFUtk2U-5Q!2e0!5s20240901T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D5.623277211257658%26panoid%3DVQPgiudlEi6mwFUtk2U-5Q%26yaw%3D85.09803952758256!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) and SR 99 (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6130298,-122.343418,3a,61.6y,341.27h,86.57t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqQD9266k-apYLOfiAnEIrA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D3.427787927911737%26panoid%3DqQD9266k-apYLOfiAnEIrA%26yaw%3D341.26594940897064!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQxNi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) are the two major tunnels in Seattle, and both have tons of call boxes all throughout.
Québec has some on the most isolated stretches of highway. QC 138 heading east from Québec City will have them, as well as QC 389 as mentioned over 10 years ago.
The first time I ever saw them was in the mid-80's along a (not particularly treacherous or remote) stretch of I-65 leading north out of Montgomery, AL, maybe for about 30 miles or so. Never saw them anywhere else in AL, but my childhood travels there were pretty much limited to going to Florida Panhandle beaches and back.
Quote from: wriddle082 on April 20, 2025, 10:22:38 AMThe first time I ever saw them was in the mid-80's along a (not particularly treacherous or remote) stretch of I-65 leading north out of Montgomery, AL, maybe for about 30 miles or so. Never saw them anywhere else in AL, but my childhood travels there were pretty much limited to going to Florida Panhandle beaches and back.
That kinda makes sense, there's a 13 mile gap between xxits there between Prattville and Verbena. There ain't too many more north of Clanton until you reach Calera either, I know the rest area for I-65 southbound on the north side of Clanton has signage for it four miles in advance (rather than the usual one mile), with yellow signs advising people to stop there and take a break if they're feeling drowsy.