'This is a huge deal': Dual petitions sweep through Belgrade in effort to stop roundabout

Belgrade’s proposed Intersection Improvements Project has been met with frustration from residents who don’t want a roundabout at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street.

On April 24, Belgrade resident Eva Grace created a petition on Change.org to replace the roundabout with a stoplight.

The petition is called “Belgrade Deserves Better: Stoplight Instead of a Roundabout.” As of publication, the petition had 993 signatures, with a goal of 1,000.

Grace told the Chronicle she started the petition because she wanted to “do something to change the community.”

She said she thinks roundabouts would work for “every other area other than a congested, tiny, historical downtown area” like Belgrade.

“It’s going to impede upon every Belgrade business,” she said.

Her boyfriend’s father owns a concrete business on North Broadway, and Grace said she believes there’s no way they can pull their truck and form trailer through the roundabout.

She’s in favor of the railroad underpass coming to Jackrabbit Lane and Main Street and said it would help fix traffic congestion. But she’s concerned about the roundabout and lack of parking in the downtown area.

Over the past few days, she’s been putting up flyers and handing them out to businesses in Belgrade. She plans to schedule a community meeting next week for Belgrade residents to discuss the next steps.

“The end goal is definitely to stop the roundabout,” she said.

And Grace isn’t the only person in Belgrade trying to fight back with a petition.

Rhonda Gilbert and her daughter Kat Timmer have been working together to unite downtown Belgrade businesses against the roundabout.

Gilbert, who owns Center Ice Cafe at 11 North Broadway, has been encouraging people to sign a paper petition opposing the roundabout.

“Every business is sharing it and getting signatures as well,’ Gilbert said.

The petition was created by HD 64 candidate Daniel Martinez, who also put it on Change.org. He wrote on the website that “The public widely feels this roundabout is unneeded, raises serious safety concerns, imposes significant hardships on local businesses and residents, and places an unnecessary taxpayer burden without proper public consent or approval.”

The petition was created April 25 and is called “Stop the Unneeded Roundabout at Main Street and Broadway Belgrade, Montana.”

Gilbert said the roundabout will be “detrimental to downtown Belgrade businesses” and thinks the current four-way stop is fine.

Montana Department of Transportation and DOWL, the engineering firm with the project, met with Gilbert and walked through the changes that would come to North Broadway, including the loss of parking.

Gilbert is worried about how this loss will impact her business, especially with the seniors who frequent the cafe.

“They’re not gonna be able to come in here anymore,” she said.

Kat Timmer said it’s “already really hard for us to find parking” and wondered if the new design of North Broadway would be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

She’s worried about the “functionality of the town” and has spoken with truck drivers and drivers transporting cattle in trailers about the difficulties of roundabouts.

“This is a huge deal,” she said.