Half of Big Sur’s emergency call boxes have been out of service for months, or longer.

For travelers making their way along Highway 1 in Big Sur, the vistas steal the spotlight. Eight emergency call boxes, situated along the east side of the 70-mile stretch of highway, go largely unnoticed.

Until they are needed, at least. Half of the eight emergency call boxes are out of service. This includes the two of the most used: one near Garrapata State Park, the other near Soberanes Point. Although use of any call box is relatively rare, 104 of the 171 calls made on the emergency phones since 2019 have come from the Garrapata Beach and Soberanes Point locations.

Laurie Williamson, senior engineer with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County – the agency that oversees the call boxes – says the receivers on the Garrapata and Soberanes landline phones were removed during an AT&T maintenance project and have been out since at least July 26. AT&T, the service provider for the phones, is scheduled to replace them on Sept. 16.

A big question mark remains for the other two still out of service – one located at Bixby Bridge, the other near Andrew Molera State Park. Williamson says these phones, which were not landlines, lost cell connection possibly as far back as 2018. The phones did not register any usage in TAMC data from 2019 to 2022. Yet, Williamson says replacing the phones is a “high priority” for the agency, and it is looking to partner with a satellite provider for service, but offered no timeline.

Butch Kronlund, executive director of the Community Association of Big Sur, says he is disappointed by the failure to maintain the phones in working condition. “It’s really important to have some contact to the outside world,” he says.