Courtesy Photo Cars drive through the intersection at M-68 and U.S.-23 in Rogers City on Monday. The Michigan Department of Transportation is considering making the intersection a four-way stop and lane changes to help make it more safe.

ROGERS CITY — Changes could be coming to how traffic flows at the M-68 and U.S.-23 intersection in Rogers City, which city officials hope could save lives.

After a meeting with representatives from the Michigan Department of Transportation, a plan on how to reduce the number of serious crashes at the busy intersection may be in the works.

Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan said that, for many years, Rogers City has tried to convince MDOT to reduce the speed limit near and around the intersection. He said that, over the years, the intersection has seen many serious wrecks and several fatalities and the city has wanted the state to take action.

McLennan said state Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, initiated a meeting between local and state officials to see if they could find a change in the way traffic flows in the area of concern.

McClennan said MDOT indicated a roundabout at the intersection was the ideal answer, but that would cost about $3 million to build and Rogers city would have to wait years to get state funds to pay for it. McLennan said a request was made to lower the speed limit there, but MDOT officials indicated they’d have to do a traffic study and, if the results showed people travel faster than the posted speed limit, the state could increase the limit instead of decreasing it.

McLennan said MDOT officials decided to explore making the intersection a four-way stop and to reduce the number of turn lanes at and near the light. The state intends to do an engineering study to see if the ideas would help.

Currently, the speed limit on U.S- 23 through the intersection is 50 mph.

“We decided to conduct our speed traffic study and it showed the average speed was 56 miles per hour and the main goal is to lower the speed limit and not increase it,” McLennan said. “There are a lot of bad accidents and too many people have died over the years. These aren’t just fender benders.”

The last handful of years has also seen an uptick in development around and near the intersection. McLennan said a new Dollar General, medical clinics, and other businesses have opened and many of them have access drives that funnel on to U.S.-23. At times, drivers pull out into oncoming traffic, traveling in excess of 50 mph and bad crashes occur.

In February, a Rogers City woman was killed while pulling out of a business onto the highway. McLennan said that, over the years, others have died in that area and others were seriously injured.

“They aren’t always fatal, but they are always nasty,” he said.

McLennan said that, to some drivers, the current layout can be confusing.

“We hear that from the public all of the time,” McLennan said.

MDOT spokesman James Lake described what the study will entail.

“We will look at the intersection and see what could work or what type of pavement or lane changes will function better at a four-way stop,” Lake said. “Right now, we don’t have a firm timeline on how long that will take.”