going around in circles

Doug Mattson article back on May 7, covering proposal to put a roundabout aka rotary in at Idaho-Maryland and East Main St. intersection, also mentioning that CalTrans is thinking of putting one at Gold Flat / Hwy 20. I hope they'll do the same at Gold Flat/Ridge/Zion/Nevada City Highway intersection, where 11 9 cars could all be "next" to go although in that case my memory typically goes first.

The official distinction between roundabout and rotary is that rotary is big, roundabout is small, and that roundabout is empirically? better. But the ultimate in roundabouts, if you keep shrinking, is a blind intersection, and that is not so good, so size can't be the whole story. Rotary seems to me better, since the increased circumference gives you more space for merging in.

One surprising statement in the article was that signal lights were 'deemed' cheaper. How can that be - after all it's just a round road with dirt in middle - unless part of already-built-up neighboring property is needed for roundabout. Note to NC (county? city?) officials- not all of the GF/R/Z/NCH intersection is built up yet, act now please.