COUNTYWIDE : Call Boxes to Be Installed on Roads

Some of Ventura County’s busiest highways run through rural and sparsely populated areas, where public telephones and other conveniences are almost nonexistent.

So county officials have decided to install emergency call boxes on such roads beginning early next year, said Christopher Stephens, an official with the county Transportation Commission. The county has already installed call boxes on all six of the freeways that crisscross the region.

Stephens said California 126, which runs through primarily rural areas between Santa Paula and the Los Angeles County line, is a good example of why emergency phones are needed on major highways and not just freeways.

Stephens said the county recently contracted with Cubic Communications Corp. of San Diego to install 75 solar-powered call boxes along California 126 and California 118 between Moorpark and Saticoy in February. Several call boxes will also be installed on Pacific Coast Highway from the southeast end of the freeway to Mugu Rock.

The boxes, which will cost about $200,000 and take about two weeks to install, will be placed at half-mile intervals, Stephens said. Lifting the telephone receiver automatically places a call to the California Highway Patrol.

Stephens said the county also plans to install additional emergency phones on the Conejo Grade portion of the Ventura Freeway so the boxes are a quarter of a mile apart, instead of the present half-mile.