Firm to study Route 27 traffic Drivers to be asked where they came from, where they're going BY JAY BODAS Correspondent Engineering firm Maser Consulting will soon begin work on an origin-and-destination study on the proposed Route 287 north access ramp to be located off Route 27. The study was announced by Metuchen Mayor Edmund O'Brien at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Borough Council meeting to describe the state of plans for the proposed interchange. A presentation by Maser on its preliminary plans for the project had originally been scheduled for the meeting but was canceled. "[Maser Consulting] had a meeting with the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation, and both groups were favorably disposed toward moving forward on this initiative," O'Brien said. "But federal officials wanted more detail on how this would impact downstream and upstream intersections on Route 27 and adjoining streets." Instead, Maser will now begin work on an origin-and-destination study of Route 27. "It is a much more sophisticated study as to where cars are coming from and going, and they will then report that back to the feds," O'Brien said. "The one thing the feds didn't want have happen is they didn't want any schematic or data released on this project just yet for obvious reasons, as things may change." After the meeting, O'Brien said that it would be "difficult" to say how long the originand destination study would take to complete. "It is very time-consuming," he said. "They will have people stand out there on Route 27 in yellow vests, and they will stop cars and ask the vehicle's occupants if they would tell them where they are coming from and going." "They have to do that in the mornings, evenings and weekends," O'Brien said after the meeting. "They need a large-enough sample to support their conclusions, and they would have to do this all down Route 27, possibly as far down as Plainfield Avenue." When this study is complete, the next step would then be for the borough to petition the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) to get federal funding for the project, O'Brien said. Established by the federal government, the NJTPA is a Metropolitan Planning Organization that serves the 13 northern counties of New Jersey, including Middlesex County. Annually, it oversees $2.5 billion worth of improvements to the transportation system in North Jersey, according to NJTPA's Web site.