The purchase of a house in Bedford could eventually reroute Gault Road away from the five-way intersection near McKelvie Middle School, soon to be McKelvie Intermediate School.

At their Wednesday, April 11, meeting, Bedford town councilors unanimously approved the $240,000 purchase of 77 Gault Road.

The western end of Gault Road is at the intersection of Liberty Hill and County roads, at the northwest corner of the McKelvie property.

Council Chairman Bill Van Anglen called the plan to reroute the road further north on Liberty Hill road a “rough draft.”

“This property would give us an option to maybe redirect Gault Road and be able to maybe alleviate one of those five intersections,” Van Anglen said.

Preliminary plans are underway and are far from final, he said.

“If we were to go down that path, we obviously and assuredly would let the abutters know and we would have discussions with the School Board,” he said.

The money for the purchase will come from the council’s land reserve funds, which has about $626,000 for land purchases, said Town Manager Russ Marcoux.

The owner has until Aug. 31 to move out of the house, but may vacate earlier, he said.

When the owner moves, the house will be rented by members of the Bedford Police Department, Marcoux said, who will oversee the renters.

The current owner of 77 Gault Road, Gertrude Hainey, said she didn’t want to comment on the sale.

“This is a really important purchase for the town because you’re not going to try to fix that intersection over there,” said Van Anglen.