More than 700 Belgrade residents have signed a petition opposing the city’s proposed roundabout at Broadway and Main, making it the largest organized civic action in Belgrade since the 2019 fireworks ordinance debate and roughly 700 more signatures than any Belgrade city commission meeting has ever attracted.

“We don’t want it,” said petition organizer Vicki Stanhope, 53, when asked to summarize the document. When asked what specifically about the roundabout concerns her, Stanhope said, “All of it. The round part. The about part. The whole concept.”

The proposed roundabout would replace the current four-way stop at Belgrade’s busiest intersection, where drivers already navigate a complex system of eye contact, hesitation, and the quiet understanding that whoever has the bigger truck goes first.

City engineers presented the roundabout plan at a public meeting last month, explaining that the design would reduce accidents by 37 percent and improve traffic flow during peak hours. The audience received this information with the enthusiasm typically reserved for dental appointments.

“They showed us a diagram with arrows going in a circle,” said attendee Dale Bridger, 67. “I’ve been driving through that intersection for thirty years. I don’t need arrows. I need people to stop running the stop sign.”

Critics of the project argue that the $3.2 million construction cost could be better spent on road maintenance, while supporters counter that the intersection’s current accident rate justifies the investment. Both sides agree that the eighteen-month construction timeline will be, in Stanhope’s words, “a nightmare of orange cones and people from Bozeman telling us how roundabouts work in Bozeman.”

Belgrade Mayor Kirk Cunningham said the city will review the petition before making a final decision. “We hear the community,” he said. “We’re listening.”

Stanhope, when informed of the mayor’s statement, said, “They’ve been listening for two years. At some point you have to also hear.”

The petition remains available for signing at Belgrade Hardware, where it sits next to the register between a jar of beef jerky and a handwritten note that reads “No Public Restroom.”