The "benefit" of a roundabout over a traditional intersection is that the roundabout is lower in cost to maintain. They don't need an expensive signal (and all of the associated hardware required to run it), they just need the roundabout and some basic street lighting.
However, they need to be careful when building them in warmer regions where there is heavy traffic - we've had problems here that the pavement starts to move around when it's hot and you've got 28-ton trucks going around - the sideways forces on the hot pavement cause it to "warp".
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