FERRIDAY, La. &045; The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is willing to study the feasibility of placing a caution light at a deadly Ferriday intersection, department officials said Friday.

The Ferriday Town Council voted March 8 to ask the department to place a caution light at the intersection of Louisiana 15 and Delaware Avenue.

The intersection has been the site of well over 50 accidents, including two deaths, in the last decade due to high-speed traffic and a high number of pedestrians.

The department has denied requests for a red light at the intersection before.

But where a caution light is concerned, &uot;we could do another study and look into the possibility of it,&uot; said Ricky Moon, district engineer administrator.

The factors the department considers when placing stop or caution lights at intersections &045; traffic counts and accident history &045; are the same.

&uot;But a red light is a lot harder to get&uot; than a caution light, said Ken Mason, district design and traffic engineer. For one thing, traffic counts must be higher to warrant a red light. Traffic counts for the intersection weren’t available as of press time.

The department’s district office in Chase, La., had not received a request for a caution light from Ferriday officials as of Friday.

Once a request is received, the department will set a date to complete the feasibility study.

From there, the department would study not only the number of accidents, but how they happen, Mason said. &uot;For example, if it’s mostly rear-end accidents, that would not necessarily be correctable by a red light or a caution light,&uot; he said.

At its March 8 meeting, the council also voted to ask the department to paint a double stripe along the middle of Louisiana 15 from Tumminello Road to Louisiana Avenue to prevent passing by vehicles.

Drivers travel Louisiana 15 to bypass the town’s main street, E.E. Wallace Boulevard, and people walk along the highway to get to nearby apartments, houses and stores.

More than 30 friends and family members of those injured in accidents at Louisiana 15 and Delaware protested at the site in October 1998, calling for the state to install a traffic light there.

But in 1998 and 1999, the department denied Ferriday’s request for a traffic light there, saying there was not enough traffic there to warrant it. Instead, the state painted a crosswalk just to the north. The Louisiana Legislature also failed in 1999 to pass a resolution directing the department to install a traffic light at the intersection.

Ferriday Mayor Gene Allen could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.