LEWISTON — Police and Public Works officials are looking for volunteers to make sure city codes pertaining to traffic signs, parking and loading zones match the city streets.

“We need someone to go between the book and the field,” Lewiston Highway Supervisor Steve Murch said. “You can look on the computer, but what we really need is someone to go out and check on what’s actually out there.”

The city regularly changes rules relating to traffic and parking, agreeing to put up new signs, mark parking areas and set aside some areas for handicapped access. Those rules are all recorded in the city’s traffic schedule.

“But over time, mistakes can get made,” Murch said. “Pages get put in and removed, and sometimes outdated information gets left behind and forgotten.”

For example, Murch said the city sometimes designates on-street parking spaces in front of a business as loading-only zones.

“And sometimes, those businesses close,” he said. “With that business gone, we could open that parking back up for the neighbors or other businesses in the area.”

Murch said the schedule covers bus stops, stop signs, parking areas and parking meters throughout the city. The schedule itself is divided into 50 different sections of the city.

“The rules get changed for hundreds of reasons,” he said. “It’s a very time-consuming process. We can only afford to do it now as we find them. If we see something glaring, we fix it.”

Volunteers on the project would report to Murch and Lewiston police Inspector Dave Chick. After some training, they’d be sent out to survey the city streets with a copy of the traffic schedule and a measuring wheel. They’d check the traffic schedule to make sure it matches conditions in the real world, then report back.

“They won’t be making any changes themselves,” Murch said. “We’re using them to weed out the problems and look for discrepancies.

Murch said he figures it would take a dedicated, paid intern a summer to work through the entire traffic schedule.

“It’s fairly in depth,” he said. “I’m not looking for someone to come in and do it all at once. I want them to chip away at it, doing a few areas at a time with us looking over their shoulder.”

Volunteers should download a volunteer application from the city’s website, http://tinyurl.com/62hwrxg.

[email protected]