News from the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders

Public Information Contacts: Linda Van Zandt / Joanne Vuoso / Lisa Krueger

908.231.7020 publicinfo@co.somerset.nj.us

November 10, 2009

Main Street/Easton Avenue Travel Survey Now Online

Residents, employees, business owners and visitors who travel the Main Street/Easton Avenue corridor between the Bound Brook and New Brunswick train stations are invited to share their ideas in an online survey for the Main Street/Easton Avenue Corridor Study being conducted by Somerset and Middlesex counties.

The survey focuses on travel patterns along the corridor and seeks to identify mobility issues and strategies to improve driving, public transit, walking and biking conditions in the area.

Go to “Easton Avenue Survey” on the RideWise homepage at www.ridewise.org to take a short survey. Responses are requested by mid-December.

“We are looking for creative and practical ideas from those who use this heavily traveled route,” said Freeholder Deputy Director Jack M. Ciattarelli, liaison to the county Planning Division.

Middlesex and Somerset counties received a planning grant from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) to prepare a Main Street/Easton Avenue Corridor Plan.

“This is a key travel corridor in both counties,” said Somerset County Freeholder Peter S. Palmer, the county’s NJTPA liaison. “This comprehensive plan will help improve mobility for commuters, businesses and residents.”

Middlesex County Freeholder H. James Polos, his county’s liaison to the NJTPA, also stressed the importance of the study and noted that the Easton Avenue corridor “serves as a major intermodal connector road. It provides access to such facilities as the New Brunswick train station on the Northeast Corridor, the Bound Brook station on the Raritan Valley Line, I-287, Route 18, Rutgers University and other regional facilities in the study area.”

The plan will address potential roadway improvements; transit-service enhancements; smart-growth land-use and circulation possibilities; bicycle and pedestrian usage; and intelligent-transportation systems. It will include proposed short-, medium- and long-term improvements for Bound Brook, South Bound Brook, Franklin Township and for the City of New Brunswick.

For more information about the survey or the study, contact Somerset County Principal Planner Kenneth Wedeen at (908) 231-7021 or wedeen@co.somerset.nj.us.