A solution for the dangerous intersection of Route 101 and Nashua Road could be in sight, as the Town Council has endorsed a $1 million plan for an upgrade, with a guaranteed two-thirds reimbursement from the state.

In their vote, taken at a Nov. 19 meeting, councilors instructed town staff to draft a measure for a $1 million bond that would appear on the ballot in March. The council is scheduled to hold two public hearings in early 2009 on the bond before it approves the proposal for the ballot.

The plan is the least expensive of three options devised by the town and the Department of Transportation. It entails changes to the intersection – the installation of a traffic light, dedicated left- and right-turn lanes from Route 101 onto Nashua Road, dedicated left and right turns out of Nashua and right turns only onto Bell Hill Road.

The second option would have done the same as the above, but instead of a right-turn lane from the highway onto Nashua, it would have substituted an additional eastbound lane for both through and right-turning traffic, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million, according to the state officials.

The third option, priced at about $3 million, would widen Route 101 to four lanes between Wallace and Nashua roads, and three lanes from Nashua Road to Meetinghouse Road. The three-lane portion would have two eastbound and one westbound lane, state officials said.

This is at least the fourth time public officials have attempted to broker a compromise solution for an intersection where safety issues were thrown into the spotlight by the opening of Bedford High School.

After the state told the school district that its plan for fixing the intersection and widening Route 101 was out of its jurisdiction, the town incorporated it into its townwide road plan, only to see the measure defeated by voters last March.

The DOT unveiled a slate of three alternatives at a public information meeting in June, but none of them gained traction, according to Town Council Chairman Mike Izbicki. He said the three options that were reviewed Nov. 19 were scaled down versions of the ones from June.

Izbicki said the town will sign an agreement guaranteeing the two-thirds reimbursement from the state before it approaches voters in the spring. State officials said they are willing to pay the town back at the two-thirds rate up to a total cost of $1.5 million, an amount higher than normal. The reimbursement, which is drawn out of the state highway safety fund, would not be available until 2012.

Town Councilor Michael Scanlon is worried improvements to the Nashua Road intersection could exacerbate the conditions at Meetinghouse.

“I’m scared this is going to make that situation worse over there and I don’t know that we want to make that situation worse,” Scanlon said.

Councilor Bill Dermody said more attention needs to be paid to traffic at Meetinghouse Road. “That is an absolute mess right now,” Dermody said. “It’s a bottleneck now.”

Scanlon asked if the state could likewise cover two-thirds of the costs for the widening around Meetinghouse Road.

“It’s not an impossibility,” DOT Project Manager James Marshall said outside of the meeting. “There probably would be other funding sources needed to bring it to the next level.”

One source might be a bill passed in the last legislative session that makes Bedford eligible for an 80 percent compensation from the state for work it does on Route 101, that later ends up receiving funding in the 10-year statewide road plan. But officials said the reimbursement is not guaranteed.

“There are more needs statewide than there are resources,” said Bill Cass, a DOT official.

After the meeting, School Board Chairman David Sacks was pleased about how much progress has been made. “I personally feel that the option selected by the Town Council is the best for Bedford,” Sacks said. “It is about $1 million, which is $2 million less than the entire project that was proposed a year ago, when we were advised that the state would never accept a signal without traffic mitigation on Route 101. We are so much better off a year later.”

Sacks noted that the town has the commitment for a reimbursement from the state and that it has “much less work” to do and does not need to invest more tax dollars on a state road.

“I am hopeful that the Town Council can come up with creative financing options to fund this project so that the tax impact is nominal,” Sacks added.

Sacks said the school district has been supportive of a traffic light at the intersection and is “very concerned about safety of students, neighborhood residents and others who frequent the recreation areas off Nashua Road.”