OCTA OKs $3 Million to Upgrade Call Boxes

Moving ahead with plans to make highway call boxes more accessible to the disabled, the Orange County Transportation Authority on Wednesday earmarked more than $3 million to buy and maintain communication equipment for the deaf and speech impaired.

Board members unanimously approved a contract with Comarco Wireless Technologies Inc. to install typewriter-style devices at about 1,200 emergency call boxes in the county. The equipment costs about $2.6 million, and service will run about $450,000 through February 2005.

OCTA officials said the devices will be a vast improvement for the county’s call box system, which was installed in the late 1980s before passage of federal laws requiring that the disabled have equal access to public facilities.

“This is an attempt by OCTA to help handicapped motorists,” said George Urch, a spokesman for the authority. “This will give emergency operators for the California Highway Patrol quick response and the ability for full communication.”

In September 2000, OCTA board members launched a program to retrofit the county’s call boxes and improve their accessibility for people in wheelchairs and for those who have difficulty hearing or speaking.

Orange County’s effort is part of a growing effort to refit highway call boxes throughout the state. Advocates for the disabled say many of the state’s 17,000 call boxes do not comply with federal laws to improve access.