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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/19/1993, C-3 - CITY SUPPORT FOR A CALL BOX PROGRAM ALONG STATE HIGHWAYS IN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTYI���H�i��uuIIIIIIIII I� IIIIIII city Of San, AS OBI SPO Njj% COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT FROM: PREPARED BY: SUBJECT: CAO RECOMMENDATION: BACKGROUND The Situation MEETING DATE: Januarg 19, 1993 ITEM NUMBER: Wayne Peterson, Interim Public Works .Director Terry Sanville, Principal Planner$ City support for a call box program along state highways in San Luis Obispo County By minute action, support a feasibility study conducted by SLOCOG staff to determine the scope of a call box program. At the December 9, 1992 SLOCOG meeting, the COG asked its staff to contact City Councils concerning support for conducting a feasibility study to establish a call box program. The attached letter and report prepared by COG staff provides information about the program, its costs and administration. The Program Emergency call boxes are located on state highways throughout California. Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties are the only areas between San Diego and San Francisco without call boxes on Highway 101. Call boxes improve communications during emergencies and reduce response times to stranded motorists. Their installation is supported by the California Highway Patrol. Establishing a call box program involves the creation of a Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE). Creating a "SAFE" requires approval by the Board of Supervisors and a majority of the Cities within the county having a majority of the population. FISCAL IMPACTS There will be no cost to the City for conducting the proposed feasibility study. If a call box program is established, it would be fully funded by a $1 increase in vehicle registration fees. No existing City revenue sources would be impacted. ALTERNATIVES The City Council could oppose further research on developing a call box program at this time. CONCURRENCES The Finance Department supports the feasibility study. ��►►iii►IIIII j iiiii city of So "N tins OBISpo C.A.O. SPECIAL REPORT Attachments December 16, 1992 Letter from SLOCOG Director requesting Council Action. Staff Report from San Luis Obispo Council of Governments. GTE Cellular Call Box Systems brochure (available in the Council's office for review). San Luis Obispo --ea Coordinating "ouncil .id Regional Transportation Planning Agency December 16, 1992 Peg Pinard, Mayor The City of San Luis Obispo P.O. Box 8100 San Luis Obispo, CA 93403 -8100 Arroyo Grande Atascadero Grover City Morro Bcy Paso Robles Pismo Beach San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo County Re: The establishment of call boxes on state highways in San Luis Obispo County. Dear Mrs. Pinard: The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments ( SLOCOG) considered conducting a feasibility study for the establishment of a Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE) at their December 9th meeting. A SAFE is the agency that organizes and manages a call box program. The Council decided to seek input from each city to ascertain the level of support for such a program to determine if an "in- house" feasibility study would be appropriate. We respectfully request the informational staff report included with this letter be agendized for consideration by your Council. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and SLOCOG staff support initiating a call box program. This motorist aid program is a significant safety improvement for motorists and is a valuable cost savings measure for the CHP, and local law enforcement agencies. The materials included provide general information about call boxes and the staff report outlines some of the key questions for San Luis Obispo County. SLOCOG requested staff to report back to the Council by the February 3rd meeting. Please place this item on your agenda and let us know when your City Council plans to consider this item. We would be glad to attend the meeting and answer any questions you might have. If you should have any questions or concerns prior to the meeting, please do not hesitate to contact Peter Rodgers of SLOCOG staff at 781 -5712. Sincerely, Ronald L. DeCarli Executive Director, SLOCOG W, 61L 900�, Max Van Orsdel, Captain Cardornia Highway Patrol DEC 2 y 199E CITY COUNCIL SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA I I 1 �— County Gox-ernment Center, San Luis Obispo, Cry 93408 (805) 549 -5612 —� �3 -3 STAFF REPORT TO: All City Councils in San Luis Obispo County FROM: San Luis Obispo Council of Governments RE: Determination of city support for a call box in San Luis Obispo County OVERVIEW - This staff report provides information on the applicability of call boxes in San Luis Obispo county. The Council of Governments would like to know the level of support by your Council for developing a call box program. More specifically, does your City Council; a) support a reconnaissance study by SLOCOG staff on call boxes, or b) oppose further research on developing a call box program at this time? BACKGROUND Senate Bill 1199 (Craven /Bergeson) established Service Authority's for Freeway Emergencies (S.A.F.E.'s) in 1966. A service authority for freeway emergencies may be established if the Board of Supervisors and the city councils of a majority of the cities within the county having a majority of the population of the cities within the county adopt resolutions providing for the establishment of the authority. It would require the formation of another Joint Powers Agreement, or another 'hat" for SLOCOG. The revenue source to fund the program is a $1 increase in vehicle registration fees. The funds may be used for implementation, maintenance, and operation of an emergency motorist aid system. There are other vehicle registration fees that are not related to this program. Assembly Bill 2766 (Sher) authorized a $4 vehicle registration fee surcharge to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles. Three of the four dollars are currently being used by the County's Air Pollution Control District and the fourth dollar is not being collected at this time. Also, a vehicle registration fee increase of $1 was recently approved by the County Board of Supervisors to help fund law enforcement activities related to motor vehicle use. DISCUSSION The Call Box program was developed to enable motorists in need of aid to obtain assistance. It is a safety program. The primary benefit of a call box system is that it reduces the response time for the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and other emergency vehicles. The system reduces the response time to assist stranded motorists, respond to auto accidents, and for reporting other emergencies (i.e. health problems and natural disasters). The call boxes are basically two -way cellular phones with direct links to CHP dispatchers. The CHP dispatchers direct your call for automobile servicing, medical attention, or law enforcement, as needed. 1. There are a number of questions concerning program development, including: Is it appropriate in a rural county atmosphere? Do we have the volume of traffic to really justify it? Which roadways would they be on? Why isn't this a State responsibility? Aren't cellular phone replacing the need for call boxes? How much do they cost and how much money do we have? The answers to these questions are explained below: Urban verses rural area usefulness - Currently, the majority of call box programs, or organized SAFE's are located in urban areas. But the usefulness of call boxes is not exclusive to urban areas. Call boxes are a safety improvement for everyone. They reduce the amount of time necessary to initiate an emergency response, whether it is an ambulance, law enforcement officer, a tow truck or just a friend. In rural areas, where it may be a considerable distance to a public phone, the need for call boxes may actually be more critical. Many rural counties are now banding together to begin SAFE programs. The obstacle for counties with smaller populations, and correspondingly a smaller number of vehicles registered, is they do not have the start-up capital to fund call box programs. Many such counties will approve the program and "bank" the funds until they have enough funding to begin. There is also the issue of reciprocation. San Luis Obispo county residents who travel to urban areas currently have the benefit of using call boxes without paying for them. The motoring public in this county does not provide this safety improvement for urban traveler passing through this region. San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties are the only counties on the Highway 101 corridor between San Francisco and San Diego that do not provide call boxes. , In urban areas the volume of traffic and the ability to rapidly remove inoperable vehicles from the roadway as a congestion management tool is an added benefit. Although this may not apply in rural areas, a case can be made that isolated, dark, rural highways pose a greater safety threat than more densely populated areas. Relation to Traffic Volumes - There is no Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) standard for determining the applicability of call boxes. SAFE's consider all traffic volumes potentially eligible. Very remote areas for example, may have a low AADTs but due to isolation and a lack of other communication equipment warrant a call box. The traffic volumes on Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo County, at approximately 40,000 (AADT), are sufficient to warrant a call box program. Guidelines are established for the spacing of call boxes based on AADT. The recommended spacing for areas with AADT's lower that 40,000 is every one mile or more. The spacing on roadways with ADTs higher than 100,000 is every 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile. Freeway call boxes are situated in pairs directly across from each other to reduce the temptation to cross the highway. EA C3 S Candidate Highways for Call Boxes - Call Boxes can be located on any highway or county roadway regularly patrolled by the CHP. In San Luis Obispo, it is anticipated that the call boxes could be located on Highways 101, 1, 41 and 46. The State role in the Call Box Program - The State has a relatively minor role in this program. Their function has been one of coordination. Caltrans provides specifications for call box spacing, placement, size, shape and color of the call boxes etc.. Caltrans also issues permits for the construction and maintenance of the call boxes. Caltrans does not operate the program, the SAFE does. It has been suggested that Caltrans take a more assertive role to provide call boxes along critical segments of all state highways. But Caltrans prefers a local agency commitment to development and operation of the program. Call Boxes vs. Cellular 9 -1 -1 - One of the key benefits of call boxes over cellular phones is an automatic location identification system. Incident reports with cellular 9 -1 -1 may have significant locational errors. With call boxes, the CHP dispatcher knows the callers exact location. Call boxes also reach the highest proportion of drivers. The current market penetration of cellular phones is roughly 5 %. Non - emergency calls on cellular 9 -1 -1 for other drivers are reportedly rare. Call boxes are available 24 hours /day, 7 days /week on all covered highways. Capital and Operating Costs - Developing and operating a call box program is not cheap. The cost per unit is between $2500 and $3000. The "turn key" price, or the cost to start up the program is estimated to be $5000 per box. Operating costs per box are estimated to be $1000 per year. Currently, a $1 vehicle registration fee would generate revenues of about $174,000 per year in San Luis Obispo County. The information above suggests that the first phase of a SAFE program could operate as many as 100 call boxes and the start -up costs would be approximately $500,000. If a $1 vehicle registration fee were collected today, it would take two and one half years to accrue the necessary funds. But many other options and alternatives are available. A smaller project could be phased -in over time, or the start -up costs could be used from another funding source. Eleven counties currently have SAFE programs, including Santa Barbara County, where the call boxes extend along Highway 101 to the San Luis Obispo County tine. The call boxes are spaced approximately one mile apart and the calls are dispatched to the San Luis Obispo California Highway Patrol office. Much of the ground work to initiate the program in San Luis Obispo County has already been completed. CHP dispatchers have been trained for the program, the required computer hardware and software has been purchased, and the cellular network has been established. CONCLUSION SLOCOG staff recommends that your Council provide conceptual approval for an in -house feasibility study, or reconnaissance be conducted next fiscal year to further scope out the applicability of a SAFE program to the region. It is important that an analysis of potential site locations, the number of call boxes, and a documentation of available financing be determined before any consideration of a vehicle registration fee increase. The in -house study would require approximately 20 man days and the total expenditure of funds would be approximately $3,500. The current market price for a call box feasibility study for counties of similar size is $15,000. Prepared by Peter Rodgers 3. C.\pe,e\C&M V.M -b