Toll Roads Are Closer to Getting Call Boxes

The county’s tollway agency and transportation authority are finalizing an agreement that could bring emergency call boxes to the Foothill and San Joaquin Hills toll roads within three months.

The familiar yellow telephones--about 1,200 in all--have been available to drivers on Orange County’s freeways since 1988 but are not required on all tollways. When the 15-mile San Joaquin tollway opened in November, officials were alerted that the lack of call boxes could be dangerous for those traveling the largely deserted stretch of highway, which has steep grades and is far from gas stations or developments.

“It’s important to us that people using our corridors feel as comfortable and safe as they would using any other roadway in the state of California,” Transportation Corridor Agencies spokesman Paul Glaab said.

Tollway agency and Orange County Transportation Authority officials had squabbled over which side should buy and install the estimated 250 boxes needed to cover the tollways at half-mile intervals. The OCTA receives $2.1 million a year for call boxes from vehicle registration fees and maintains the county’s other freeway phone stations.

But that money is supposed to be used to pay back a loan that put call boxes along the freeways nine years ago. OCTA officials said the tollway board should use contingency funds to pay for its own call boxes.

“Everyone was dragging their feet for a while there,” recalled Sarah Catz, an OCTA board member.

The latest agreement calls for the tollway agency to buy and install the emergency telephones and the OCTA to manage the system and fund annual California Highway Patrol dispatch costs. OCTA would pay for monthly cellular service and preventive maintenance costs, while the tollway agency would pay for repairs caused by knockdowns or vandalism.

The total breakdown: $1.24 million for the tollway agency and $2.66 million for OCTA. Both the agency’s Glaab and OCTA spokesman John Standiford said the emergency call boxes should be installed and operating by the end of June. Both agencies are expected to approve the final agreement next week.