Ah, summertime! It’s when we go to the beach and golf courses, baseball games, barbeques, and outdoor concerts ... and always seem to encounter those annoying orange traffic cones whenever and wherever we’re driving.

Those orange cones, however, and the work crews and heavy equipment that often accompany them on streets and highways of all shapes and sizes are a necessary evil because the work must be done sometime.

In Norwich, the current awkward traffic pattern down city is being replaced by a roundabout in Franklin Square that I expect will make traffic flow more easily in that often-congested area.

Many people may not be familiar with roundabouts, which are designed to streamline traffic flow without the nuisance and delays of stop signs and traffic lights.

Truthfully, I had my doubts when two single-lane roundabouts were built between Howard Street and Pequot Avenue in New London more than 20 years ago to make traffic flow more easily when hundreds more cars came in and out of that part of the city every day when Pfizer located its new Global Research & Development Headquarters there (the property has since been acquired by General Dynamics-Electric Boat, which generates even more daily traffic).

The whole thing brought back nightmarish memories of the giant Paris traffic circle, Place de Charles-de-Gaulle that encircles that city’s famous Arc de Triomphe. While driving a tiny rent-a-car there during a visit in 1983, I became boxed in the inside lanes of the circle by unyielding drivers, forcing me to circle the monument a half-dozen times before finally accelerating and recklessly crossing several lanes of heavy traffic to escape.

That bold move resulted in several near-misses, and elicited angry gestures and horn-blowing from some of the other drivers, but that is to be expected in big cities. When in Paris, I reasoned, do as the Parisians.

To my pleasant surprise, the single-lane roundabouts in New London improved traffic flow, and as long as everyone observed the yield signs at the roundabouts’ entrance points, everything was fine. Yes, at first, drivers navigated the new circles cautiously, but today, it’s a breeze. Even at the busiest times, cars zip through the roundabouts and hardly even slow down.

Years later, the Connecticut Department of Transportation replaced the old Salem Four Corners and its traffic lights at the intersections of Routes 82 and 85 with a two-lane roundabout. Again, after a period of getting used to the new traffic system, drivers seem able to negotiate it all pretty easily these days.

Over the years, down city Norwich has been plagued by any number of challenges, not the least of which has been a variety of traffic-flow changes that have done more harm than good, both for drivers and downtown merchants. A half-baked plan that converted many of down city’s streets to one-way was probably the worst.

It took a long time for drivers and pedestrians to get used to the plan, and slower and heavier traffic was about all it seemed to accomplish. Already at a competitive disadvantage from mall construction in other parts of Norwich, down-city merchants were further hamstrung by the one-way traffic scheme.

Norwich was not alone in experimenting with unorthodox traffic patterns which, while well-intentioned, had disastrous results for people who drove, worked and/or lived within the central business districts.

We all remember New London closing most of State Street to vehicular traffic as part of an ambitious but short-sighted redevelopment initiative in the 1960s. State Street became an abomination called Captain’s Walk, a pedestrian walkway that was the beginning of the end for many businesses on either side.

Combined with the later opening of Crystal Mall in Waterford, it devastated long-time businesses that for years had been staples of the city’s commercial district. Today, State Street has long-since been re-opened to two-way vehicular traffic, which has improved access to stores, restaurants and other establishments there.

This most recent Norwich plan seems to have been better thought-out than those that preceded it.

First, Norwich Public Utilities and the city’s Department of Public Works have coordinated NPU’s replacement of a century-old gas line in down city with the roundabout construction project. The coordinated projects’ schedule will save on paving costs and shorten periods of traffic disruption in and around Franklin Square. This will open up the area’s major arteries to two-way traffic, further easing previously stilted vehicular flow.

While there may be some skepticism about the new roundabout in Franklin Square, those who drive through Norwich should give the plan a chance and reserve judgment until they’ve had a chance to drive through it. After a few tries, they’ll find that roundabouts work pretty well in heavily traveled areas. It won’t resolve all of the city’s challenges, but unlike traffic plans from the past, this one will ultimately encourage people to venture through Franklin Square and maybe even stay down city for a while to shop, dine or do other business.

Bill Stanley, a former vice president at L+M Hospital, grew up in Norwich.