Through Sept. 15

Frye Street, from College to Oak

White Street, from College to Oak

Davis Street, from College to Oak

Oak Street, from Frye to Elm

Timing bad for Bates-area parking ban
Classes at the Lewiston college begin Sept. 7

LEWISTON – A parking ban on four streets around Bates College through mid-September could be confusing for returning students.

Crews from Northern Utilities on Tuesday began replacing the natural gas lines under Frye, White, Davis and Oak streets – all south of Mount David and west of College Street. The work is scheduled to continue through Sept. 15.

Lewiston police have imposed a parking ban on those streets during the project, ticketing and towing cars that conflict with the work.

“We’ve done what we can, and we’ll put the warning out to students and faculty to stay off of those streets,” said Thomas Carey, director of security at Bates College. “The timing is unfortunate, but if they park there while it’s posted, they might get towed.”

Carey urged students, faculty and visitors, as well as anyone else with business on campus, to use on-campus parking lots and other city streets during the work.

“We are normally pretty generous with them for the first six days, letting them get settled in,” he said. “I guess that’s all we can do, considering the nature of the problem.”

Carey said about one-third of the college’s first year students are already on campus and the rest are expected Sunday. Other students are expected to arrive early next week. Classes begin Sept. 7.

Carey didn’t know how many students would bring cars with them.

“We have about 1,700 students and everybody has cars,” he said. “This is a mobile society. But we have no way of knowing how many will only have them for the week and how many will have them for longer.”

He expects the next few weeks to be frustrating for everyone.

“It’s terribly bad timing, but I understand the contractors have to do the work when they can,” he said. “The whole area will be a real mess for a couple of days.”

Perry Robichaud, construction manager for Northern Utilities, said crews had hoped to work on some of those roads last week but found themselves stymied by parked cars. They spent most mornings trying to locate the owners and get the cars moved.

Bates security has no way of knowing who owns the cars belong this early in the year, said Lewiston Police Sgt. David Chick.

“They come in to Lewiston, they get to campus and they’re all excited,” he said. “But until they register with the school, we have no way of knowing who they are.”