BELCHERTOWN - Two of the most troublesome intersections in town are making news, one for a pending $1 million reconstruction and the other for safety recommendations made by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.

The intersections are in the town's center and on Route 9 where it meets Bay Road.

Work on improving the intersection in Belchertown's center, where Maple, Main and Jabish streets meet, might begin in spring, according to Select Board Chairman Kenneth Elstein.

The $1 million project will use $200,000 in state funds and $800,000 in federal money to add new turning lanes and improve traffic signals there.

The project is already being advertised for bids, Massachusetts Department of Transportation records show.

"That intersection is really somewhere between annoying and atrocious," Elstein said. "Work should start in the coming construction season. We're very happy about it."

Northbound traffic on Route 181 turning left onto Maple Street (Route 21) is particularly difficult during rush hour, Elstein said.

"If one car is waiting to make a left turn, you could have 20 cars backed up behind it," he said. "Those cars are going to sit through at least one light cycle before they can proceed."

The problems at the intersection were studied by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in 2006, which said the area lacked sufficient room for vehicles turning left given the volume of traffic there.

Gary Roux, the commission's principal planner and traffic manager, said the study showed that vehicles turning left from Jabish or Maple streets experience long delays at rush hour because the roadway is wide enough to accommodate only one vehicle at a time.

The data showed drivers from Maple Street waiting nearly three minutes during morning peak travel times and nearly seven minutes in the evening.

Roux called the intersection "over capacity," and said traffic backs up there "once you get a significant number of vehicles in the queue."

The Bay Road-Route 9 intersection attracts more than its share of rear-end accidents, Roux said. The roads meet at an acute angle that drivers turning right off Bay Road have difficulty determining if Route 9 is clear, he said. If they have to stop suddenly for traffic, they are often rear-ended by other drivers also trying to exit Bay Road.

A Pioneer Valley Planning Commission study of this intersection was released in December.

There were fewer accidents involving vehicles turning left on Route 9 because typically those drivers use Allen Road, where there is a better sight line for judging oncoming traffic, Roux said.

The commission offered a series of recommendations to improve safety there, but did not advocate for a traffic signal because the volume of traffic from Bay Road doesn't justify one, Roux said.

There are already two traffic signals near the intersection, one at the Stop & Shop Plaza on Route 9 and the other at the intersection where routes 202 and 181 converge. Adding another at Bay Road would only increase congestion on Route 9, he said.

Reconfiguring the acute angle of Bay Road's intersection with Route 9 is one possibility, but would require taking some land from homeowners, the report said. Constructing a roundabout could be problematic because Bay Road is on a slope near Route 9.

Installing "stop ahead" signs along Bay Road, giving motorists advance warning that traffic ahead will stop before entering Route 9, might reduce the number of rear-end collisions, the report said.