Whenever I read about the intersection of 96th Street and Allisonville Road, two years immediately come to mind—1991 and 2012.

I moved to Fishers in May 1991 and often drove through 96th and Allisonville, especially during rush hour. Even back then, it was a busy spot where Indianapolis met the growing Town of Fishers.

Fast forward to 2012, the year I launched this news blog. Around that time, the Fishers Town Council was rolling out public-relations efforts to explain a traffic change few Hoosiers had ever seen: the “Michigan Left.” Instead of turning left at the light, drivers would first turn right, then make a U-turn.

Let’s just say the public wasn’t impressed. Social media and local media hammered the plan, and the Michigan Left quickly earned a reputation as a bad idea.

Not everyone agreed, though. My wife Jane, who worked at the Precedent office park near Keystone at the Crossing, used Michigan Lefts regularly and thought it saved time compared to long waits for a left-turn arrow. But public opinion carried the day, and engineers went back to the drawing board.

Studies eventually recommended a roundabout as the best long-term fix for 96th and Allisonville. Construction was painful, as expected, but the project was finished and the new roundabout opened.

Now, more than a decade later, the 96th and Allisonville roundabout is back in the news—and not always in a positive light. Some drivers say it’s just as frustrating as the Michigan Left that came before.

I’m not a traffic engineer, and I try to trust the experts on these matters. Still, I’ve always believed roundabouts are an improvement over four-way stops. When it comes to major intersections, though, I have my doubts. From what I’ve seen at 96th and Allisonville, many of the problems stem less from design and more from drivers who don’t know how to use a roundabout properly. Since Indianapolis doesn’t have nearly as many roundabouts as Fishers or Carmel, it may simply be a matter of unfamiliarity.

That brings me to a recent decision about another busy crossing—116th Street and Allisonville. Fishers officials announced that plans for a roundabout there have been scrapped. A new traffic study suggested that extending left-turn lanes would be a better way to relieve backups, particularly during rush hour.

Carmel may be the roundabout capital of Indiana, perhaps even the nation, and Fishers has been catching up. But the latest move shows that while roundabouts can be valuable, they aren’t always the best answer everywhere.