The Mill Road and Highway 20 intersection west of the Port Townsend Paper Mill is set to get a new, circular look in the near future.

And nearby Discovery Road, South Jacob Miller Road, and others might be included in that equation.

Considering the intersection’s outdated signals, frequent and extensive maintenance, and other operational concerns, the Washington State Department of Transportation has slated the intersection for replacement with a compact roundabout.

Before any construction or replacement is done, however, the city is set to analyze and design multiple concepts of what that roundabout could look like.

The Port Townsend City Council unanimously approved an engineering services contract for the Mill Road, Highway 20, and Discovery Road intersections to analyze and design multiple roundabout concepts during its Monday business meeting. The analysis and design is set to cost the city $20,000, and it will arrive from Port Townsend’s real estate excise tax funds.

This may not be a typical roundabout, with the design potentially incorporating Discovery Road and other nearby streets to form an eight-pronged, circular intersection.

“It would basically be a single roundabout that consolidates the Mill Road shape, [Highway] 20, Discovery [Road]; that octopus as it were,” Councilmember Libby Urner Wennstrom said.

At the city’s request, the Washington State Department of Transportation has delayed the roundabout redesign for the local municipality to further examine multiple concepts for the future intersection.

“We think it’s worth $20,000 to hire a consultant to do the analysis that we need to make sure it passes all the checkboxes within DOT’s playbook for roundabouts,” said Steve King, the city’s public works director. “We then met with the Department of Transportation and Jefferson County to talk about this project, and they all agreed that this was a good move.”

To do anything beyond the state’s planned compact roundabout, funding will come from the city’s coffers.

Part of the emphasis on the intersections is due to the roads’ — specifically Highway 20’s — significance to travel to and from the Quimper Peninsula.

Traffic volumes at these intersections are relatively high and this location is literally a funnel point in the transportation network, according to the city.

City officials view the location as a high priority area impacting most, if not all people in Port Townsend and the majority of the Quimper Peninsula.

The next step of the analysis process will involve the engineers performing intersection control evaluations in accordance with state standards of the Discovery Road/Mill Road, Highway 20/Mill Road, Highway 20/South Jacob Miller Road, and Discovery Road/South Jacob Miller Road intersections.

The city will continue coordinating with Jefferson County and other partner agencies to secure funding for the potential new roundabout design.

Nothing is set in stone, and the city could simply decide to follow the state’s original compact roundabout plan for Highway 20 and Mill Road.