Countywide : Some Freeway Segments to Get Call Boxes First
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The county Transportation Commission has voted to install emergency call boxes on some freeway segments before others, based on priorities and freeway construction schedules.
The first segments to get the boxes, starting in July, will be those that extend toward the county’s center from the Los Angeles-Orange County border. They include the Santa Ana Freeway to the Garden Grove Freeway, the Riverside Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway, the Garden Grove Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway, and the Orange Freeway to the Santa Ana Freeway.
The boxes then will be installed on segments that extend from the Riverside and San Diego county lines inward toward the county’s center, including Interstate 5 north to the Interstate 405, and the Riverside Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway. The Costa Mesa Freeway south to the Corona del Mar Freeway also would be included in this second group.
Finally, the call boxes will be placed on the Corona del Mar Freeway, the Laguna Freeway and those freeways that are scheduled for reconstruction work, including the San Diego Freeway segment between Long Beach and the Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine, the Costa Mesa Freeway extension into Newport Beach, and the Santa Ana Freeway between the Costa Mesa Freeway and the San Diego Freeway.
Initially, the call boxes will be placed at half-mile intervals and, if possible, at quarter-mile intervals later. State routes such as Ortega Highway and Laguna Canyon Road will be the last areas to get the boxes.
The commission expects to have about 550 call boxes installed at first and as many as 980 eventually. Contractors face a Feb. 10 deadline for submitting bids for the job.
The project is being financed with a $1 per year increase in state motor vehicle registration fees, based on the number of vehicles registered from Orange County. The revenue generated for the county is expected to top $1.6 million a year.
The overall project cost is expected to reach $3 million, although financial studies are still in progress.
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