Does your state still have roadside emergency call boxes?

[cjk374]

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.   

[Roadrunner75]

I believe these are all gone now in NJ.  Last ones I remember were along the Atlantic City Expressway.

[thenetwork]

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.

[english si]

This 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.

[mjb2002]

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).

[oscar]

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.

[jakeroot]

This 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.

[doogie1303]

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.

[english si]

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?

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)

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.

[hwyfan]

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 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

[jay8g]

In Seattle, the I-90 floating bridge has them, but the new 520 bridge does not. The Aurora Bridge 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 and SR 99 are the two major tunnels in Seattle, and both have tons of call boxes all throughout.

[LilianaUwU]

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.

[wriddle082]

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.

[freebrickproductions]

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.

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.