Northway I-87 New York – Northway Call Boxes Still On The Job.

Travel Alert.

Northway I-87 New York – The prospects appear bright for the enhancement of cell-phone coverage on the Northway, though when the enabling towers will actually be installed has not been specified. The best guess seems to be that signals won’t be transmitting as hoped until after next winter.

Criticisms are still being voiced about details of the installation, including whether Verizon will make the signal available and affordable to other carriers. The state has expressed appreciation to Verizon for taking the lead in this endeavor, so the feeling there is that the company deserves credit, not rebuke.

It’s too bad that two lives were lost in the campaign to effect the broader coverage. Two individuals died, one after an accident and the other after a breakdown, while futile attempts to reach help were being made via cell phone. But, as in many areas of human endeavor, it sometimes takes a tragedy to introduce measures to avert future ones.

In the meantime, however, we remind travelers that the state has reactivated its network of solar-powered emergency call boxes along the Northway, which should provide crucial help for some stranded motorists.

The phones were non-factors during the two fatal incidents cited above. The people in the vehicles would have been unable to get to the phones. In many cases, however, the phones can link the victims of an emergency with the State Police. What is required is that somebody travel up to two miles to get to the phones.

Sometimes, that person would be a passerby. Sometimes, it would be the victim of the stranding.

The phones are two miles apart. Usually, people driving along the Northway pay no attention to where they are in relation to the phones, so they might set out in the wrong direction and wind up walking farther than they needed. But that is small price to pay for the police response. [Pressrepublican]