Workers are seen May 13 creating a four-way stop at the intersection of state Routes 133 and 156 in Jay. The Maine Department of Transportation is soliciting engineering designs for a roundabout at the intersection to make it safer, according to officials. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal file photo

JAY — The Maine Department of Transportation is working on designing a roundabout at the intersection of state Routes 133 and 156 to improve safety at Beans Corner, as the area is known locally.

The intersection was changed from a two-way stop to a four-way stop May 13. Since the change there has been a rear-end crash when a vehicle stopped, moved forward, stopped again and was hit from behind, according to the Maine DOT.

Before the change there were 28 right-angle crashes at the intersection in the past five years, the most in the state, Dennis Emidy, a Maine DOT highway safety engineer, told the Jay Select Board in 2023. The posted speed limit for the area is 35 mph.

In a 10-year period, there were 75 crashes at the intersection, with 69 right-angle collisions, Emidy previously said.

A roundabout is a circular intersection where traffic moves in a counterclockwise direction around a central island.

Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere told the Select Board on Monday that she contacted the Maine DOT about the roundabout after she received a letter dated Sept. 3 from Douglas C. Coombs, senior project manager for the Maine DOT highway program. The letter was to notify abutters, municipal officials and others as required by law.

The four-way stop was a short-term solution, Coombs said in an email to LaFreniere on Sept. 3.

The long-term solution is a roundabout, as presented to the town by the Maine DOT Safety Program, because:

• It will help address some truck-turning movements that aren’t easily taken with the four-way stop.

• All vehicles could keep moving; also the existing grades could be difficult, especially in the winter, for all vehicles to stop.

• There is less traffic delay.

• It’s the best performing safety solution.

Coombs said the department likes to assess intersection changes over a span of six years: three years before the change and three years after. Therefore, not enough time has passed for a full assessment of the four-way stop.

“We also didn’t want to delay the design of a roundabout,” he said, while waiting to assess the results of the four-way stop.

“We have chosen Stantec from Portland as the design consultant,” Coombs said.

Advertising for bids is slated for the summer of 2026.

“This date may change depending on funding and right of way impacts,” Coombs wrote.