Three months after proposing a $2 million roundabout at the intersection of Route 177, Robert Street and Tickle Road, the state is now taking a closer look at alternative plans to calm traffic at the dangerous intersection, including lights and signs.

The news was not greeted warmly at Monday evening's Select Board meeting, when member Brian Valcourt said he much prefers the roundabout solution first presented in late November.

"I feel they had a great design and the reasoning for that design was exactly spot on," he said. "It will force you to slow down and deal with that intersection."

Now, he said, some drivers blow past the intersection at speeds of 80 miles per hour or more. If the state opts for lights and signs instead of a physical re-design that forces to slow drivers down, "people are still going to blow through" the intersection.

The project most recently came up before the select board in late November, when Keith McConnell of Pare Engineering told members that the roundabout will make the stretch safer.

While other options had been considered, including different lighting, signage and other measures, McConnell said he was told during talks with the state that installing a roundabout as a traffic-calming device is the preferred solution, as it will physically force drivers to slow down as they approach the intersection from all four directions.

That appears to have changed. In his twice-monthly report to the select board, Westport Town Administrator James Hartnett wrote that the state has asked Pare to further investigate other options, including maintaining the two-way stop control with conversion to an overhead flashing signal, an all-way stop and full signalization.

While the intent is to identify the improvement that will provide the greatest safety, he wrote, a cost analysis for construction and maintenance will also be considered.

"I think they hit the ball out of the park" with the roundabout idea, Valcourt said of the state. "Then someone balked at the cost. But what is the cost in the face of a human life? "

Though the project is not currently on the state TIP, a transportation improvement plan that lists projects to be funded in the near future, McConnell told the board back in November that he estimates that public hearings and state deadlines and steps will consume nearly three years, until the project can be advertised in March 2024.

The state has said it will pay for construction if the town pays design costs.