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The city of Fishers is making adjustments to the new roundabout at East 96th Street and Allisonville Road after motorists complained about long waits at the intersection and expressed safety concerns about its design.
The roundabout, which opened in late October, replaced a more traditional intersection with a Michigan Left turn that had been in place for 11 years. However, in the two months that the roundabout has been open, people have flocked online to Facebook, NextDoor and Reddit to talk about congestion and the difficulties in navigating through heavy traffic.
Fishers Director of Public Relations Ashley Elrod said traffic at the intersection of 96th and Allisonville has increased about 20% since before the roundabout was built partly due to construction on Interstate 465. Roughly 58,000 vehicles per day passed through the 96th and Allisonville intersection each day last year, according to statistics from the Indiana Department of Transportation. Crashes at the intersection—which features two lanes of traffic both entering and exiting the circle from every direction—have also risen.
Elrod said the roundabout opened sooner than originally expected to help relieve traffic congestion resulting from the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Clear Path Northeast project, which consists of rebuilding the interchange at I-69 and I-465.
“As [the roundabout] has opened up, anecdotally, we see that Apple Maps, Waze, those navigational tools, are pushing people to that intersection as opposed to the interstate,” she said.
Elrod said the city has been working on adding new lines and signage at the roundabout to help navigation. Lighting fixtures will be installed in the next four to six weeks to improve visibility at night. The lighting was not originally part of the roundabout project. The city is also adjusting the timing of traffic signals at nearby intersections to allow traffic to flow more smoothly.
“We know that that will help with some of the relief of just the efficiency and effectiveness of the roundabout,” Elrod said. “We know that it is a key thoroughfare for traffic that would typically use 465 to get from Point A to Point B.”
Before the roundabout was installed, an often-mocked Michigan Left turn had drivers who wanted to turn left from Allisonville onto 96th first approach the intersection, then turn right, proceed a few hundred feet, then make a left U-turn at the median.
Replacing the Michigan Left was one key to making the River Place development happen immediately to the west. Carmel-based CRG Residential’s River Place will feature a 380-unit apartment complex with seven buildings, 66 town houses and three commercial buildings with 32,500 square feet of space and 170 parking spaces.
Elrod said the city will soon break ground on the $6 million Fishers White River Park, which will be adjacent to the River Place development.
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Congestion pricing?
People need to learn how to drive inappropriate roundabouts and quit complaining about personal issues.
*in, not inappropriate
This is probably the highest volume roundabout in the entire region. Indianapolis has relatively few intersections like this, where one high volume four lane road intersects with another high volume four lane road. These are always tough intersections.
Hamilton County is building a grade separated interchange at 146th and Allisonville, which has lower traffic volumes than this intersection, particularly for north-south movements. In fact, Allisonville is only two lanes there. A solution like that is probably the only way to make an intersection like this truly function well. Otherwise, there will be backups at peak periods.
Fishers is also planning to convert 116th and Allisonville to a roundabout. It appears to have similar traffic volumes. They’d do well to take stock of the results here. Perhaps a roundabout is not actually the best approach at these high traffic levels.
I’ve see roundabouts (DC comes to mind) where on the main road, the thru traffic drops down below grade, passes under the roundabout, and pops back on the other side, offloading maybe 30-40% of the traffic. It’s a little less intense to build than a compete grade separated intersection.
That’s the very definition of a grade separated interchange. Connecticut Ave under DuPont Circle is grade separated.
I think a combination of congestion pricing along with stoplights at the roundabout should solve the problem.
Perhaps two key issues should be undertaken. First, conduct a comprehensive overall review of area circulation and flow impacts with the objective of a establishing a finer grid that will decrease traffic volumes on current east-west arterials and provide alternatives for short trips
Second, implement a true high-volume roundabout design rather than a cookie-cutter application of a design appropriate for lower volumes. The revised design may require signalization at merge points and channelization to better mange through traffic and minimize conflicts.
Fishers having problems with traffic is like fish having problems with too much water.
Exactly. Well put.
who cares? Congestion at a roundabout during peak traffic periods isn’t something I’m going to personally spend much time worrying about. However…..Biden/Trump/Braun/Musk/non-functioning Congress…..those fellows keep me awake at night. RIP Jimmy Carter…..no one can ever question your moral compass!
😆🤡🤡🤡🤡
There’s congestion all along Allisonville Road with the I-69 construction. This is the perfect storm for that interchange.
Allisonville and 146th Street, and soon 146th and Hazel Dell, are clear examples of non-traffic light alternatives to roundabouts.
But if you’re going to build more roundabouts are very congested intersections, then do them correctly. Make them bigger, not smaller. 3 or 4 lanes. and not with all internal curves. Semis and large box trucks are a fact of life, without or without I-69 remodeling. So make the roundabouts capable of dealling with the larger vehicles.
This intersection will be more and more problematic as further development takes place west of Alllisonville, and in FIshers. It’s not capable of handling current traffic volume, and increased volume in the next 10 years will make this even worse.
I know for a traffic engineer, it’s hard to see a solution that doesn’t involve building bigger roads, but maybe if the state wasn’t so anti-city, we would have had some alternative regional and local mass transit options by now.
I do agree that a more granular street grid would help, but zoning laws in place since the late 60’s have pregnantly baked in the suburban car centric design. Ask yourself why every place in America looks the almost exactly the same if it was built after about 1965.
permanently not pregnantly. Darn autocorrect!
I AGREE, INDOT needs to be dismantled. They suck at what they do and always will.
The “often-mocked Michigan Left” worked perfectly well and in no way impeded the new construction to the west of that intersection. If they build the same design at 116th & Allisonville, their city engineer should look for a new job.
I was working at the firm that did the study and design for it and when I learned about it, I said
“Theres going to be so much congestion there!” LMFAO!!! That was about 4 years ago..
The problem is the light headed into the round about and the light heading out of the round about. No matter how much you adjust the “timing” you are going to have issues. This round about should have been designed to take those areas into consideration as well; especially with that CVS closing.
A roundabout assisted with 4 traffic lights is, to no surprise, getting backed up during peak demand.
It’s already been 3 months, isn’t it time to change it . . . again? Just like the the 465/Binford/69 corridor. Seems to need an annual re-do.