FISHERS — If you're driving into Fishers from Allisonville Road, you will encounter a brand new two-lane roundabout right at the city border. The intersection is an accomplishment for Fishers, but drivers are still adjusting to it.
The roundabout at Allisonville Road and 96th Street opened at the end of October and replaced a "Michigan left" intersection.
Fishers engineering director Hatem Mekki said the roundabout was the best choice for the junction.
"Whether you're going to apartment buildings, businesses, or gas stations, it's easily navigable from every direction," Mekki said. "It's very satisfying to see that it's a lot easier than what it was before."
However, drivers such as Justine Ramey believe this particular roundabout is causing issues they did not experience with the prior intersection.
"It's a little frustrating, especially at rush hour time. It gets a lot more backed up than it used to," said Ramey, who told WRTV she drives through the roundabout at least four times per day. "You've got people who don't know how to do it, so they're not confident in it and going really slow, and people who just fly through."
A post on the Fishers section of the social media website Reddit featured similar criticism of the 96th and Allisonville roundabout. Comments called the roundabout a "downgrade from the old intersection" and a "step in the wrong direction."
Mekki said the issues with traffic flow are not because of the design, but because of the excess traffic caused by construction on nearby Interstates 465 and 69.
"It's a lot of detour traffic," Mekki said. "Going north from Marion County into Allisonville, there is no access to 465. That ramp is closed, so all of that traffic comes up to 96th."
Fishers is also planning to construct a roundabout on 116th Street and Allisonville Road next spring.
