Countywide : Cities’ OK to Be Asked on Freeway Call Boxes

City councils throughout the county will be asked in the next few weeks to authorize creation of a countywide authority to set up a system of emergency call boxes on Orange County freeways.

The county Transportation Commission Monday urged city officials to adopt the necessary resolutions, which must be approved by cities representing a majority of county residents before the call boxes can be put into place.

If established, the authority would be allowed to impose a $1 surcharge on motor vehicle registrations within the county to finance installation and maintenance of the call box system.

Los Angeles County is the only county in the state with freeway call boxes, established there at quarter-mile intervals. A report presented Monday to the Transportation Commission suggests that it would be more economical to install the Orange County telephones at half-mile intervals.

Transportation commissioners urged city officials and the Board of Supervisors to adopt the resolutions as quickly as possible so that Orange County can be among the first of what is expected to be a rush of counties to process applications to the state for collecting funds.