LEWISTON – City officials will work with homeowners affected by 13 springtime road closures.

Heavy trucks will be banned from roads in the southern part of the city and to the north around No Name Pond to protect them from frost-related damage between March and May.

“When the frost begins to thaw, the base under the asphalt gets wet,” said Public Works Director Dave Jones. “Then, it starts to get weaker from all the water, especially on the sides.”

Heavy trucks make matters worse, he said.

Councilors agreed to ban trucks weighing more than 32,000 pounds from the roads until the spring thaw is done.

“Basically, that’s a good-sized panel truck, or a flatbed truck with a piece of equipment on it, like an excavator,” Jones said. “It could be a fully loaded concrete truck, as well.”

Jones said he would work with property owners who need to get bigger trucks into the banned areas.

“We’ve had folks putting in foundations or bringing in modular homes in the past, and we will help them out,” Jones said. “It might be as simple as bringing them in early in the morning when the roads are still frozen.”

Roads affected by the ban are:

• Ferry Road from Cottage to River roads.

• River Road from Ferry Road to the Solid Waste Facility.

• Dyer Road from Lisbon to Ferry roads.

• Pinewoods Road from Ferry Road to the Lisbon town line.

• Gayton Road from Lisbon Road to the Lisbon town line.

• Webster Road between Old Lisbon and Crowley roads.

• Merrill Road from College Road to Main Street.

• Sleeper Road between Merrill Road and the Greene town line.

• Randall Road between Sunrise Lane and Grover Street.

• Grove Street between Randall Road and the Sabattus town line.

• Old Greene Road between North Temple Street and the Greene town line.

• No Name Pond from Old Greene Road to Greene.

• Pond Road from Cherrywood Drive and No Name Pond Road.

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