DEERFIELD — As the town continues to look at the intersection of Routes 5 and 10, North Main Street and Mill Village Road, it has released a road safety audit detailing safety concerns in the area, while also laying out some potential enhancements.

The report, released last week by the town in partnership with The Engineering Corp. (TEC), comes as the state Department of Transportation is undertaking improvements to the intersection — designated as Project 613708 in the agency’s database — that will “improve the approaching roadway geometry and sight distance,” according to the agency. Actual designs and selection of improvements are yet to be confirmed, but options include a “roundabout, signal and/or addition of turning lanes and other safety improvements.”

In the meantime, Deerfield officials said the audit will serve as a resource for the agency to look at.

“This is part of MassDOT’s process and it’s a little hard to say what they’ll take from this. This is kind of laying out all the potential options. I wouldn’t say I got a sense of which way they’re leaning yet, but more to come from MassDOT,” said interim Town Administrator Christopher Dunne. “It’s been just nice to see they’re taking the dangers of this intersection seriously and moving this project forward.”

Participating in the audit was a wide-ranging team of Deerfield, Franklin County and state officials. In Deerfield, Selectboard members Trevor McDaniel and Blake Gilmore were joined by the Police, Fire and Highway Department chiefs, along with town administration. Other participants included several representatives of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), as well as numerous MassDOT and TEC representatives.

In the audit, TEC identified that approximately 9,172 vehicles traveled north of Mill Village Road each day, while 10,217 vehicles traveled south of Mill Village Road. The traffic study was conducted on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

TEC also determined that the intersection has a “crash rate per million entering vehicles” of 0.68, which is slightly higher than the unsignalized intersection statewide average of 0.57 crashes per million entering vehicles. The study, which took data from the last six years, was compiled using numbers from MassDOT and the Deerfield Police Department.

Of the 18 crashes identified in the study period, seven resulted in injuries. The majority of crashes, 16 of 18, occurred during weekdays and seven happened between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Key safety issues highlighted by the audit include visibility on Routes 5 and 10, particularly when vehicles attempting to turn left onto Mill Village Road or North Main Street are lined up; the high driving speeds on Routes 5 and 10; the geometry of North Main Street’s approach; blocked or aged stop signs and other directional signs; and the lack of multimodal accommodations.

TEC proposed 35 potential safety enhancements to the intersection that could be considered by MassDOT, with each one designating the estimated safety payoff, time frame and costs associated. Examples of high safety payoff improvements — which are often more expensive and take more time to complete — include narrowing the driving surface to slow down vehicles or installing a roundabout. Other options include modifying street signs for clarity or reconstructing the median islands on Mill Village Road and North Main Street.

While any movement on intersection improvements is likely years away — as MassDOT maintains Routes 5 and 10, and Deerfield maintains Mill Village Road and North Main Street — McDaniel said he supports the idea of a roundabout.

“I’m in favor of a roundabout for sure,” he said.

The audit and the continued work on the intersection of Routes 5 and 10, Mill Village Road and North Main Street continues a process that was kicked off by residents Patricia Taylor and Wayne Manley in the spring, as they gathered more than 220 signatures to petition MassDOT to look at the area.

“It really is rewarding to see they’re actually looking at it,” Manley said in September. “It tells us that it’s not going unnoticed.”

The road safety audit can be found on Deerfield’s website or at bit.ly/3V9Op3S.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.