Some Bath residents surrounding the city’s shipyard are worried that new parking proposals could cause traffic issues

The shipyard has hosted a pair of recent public information sessions at Maine Maritime Museum to gather community feedback on the parking proposals.

The three parking areas in question area a six-deck parking garage in the Main Lot close to Route 1 and two expanded paved lots near Fisher Court and Transporter Road close to the shipyard’s south gate. These new lots would add about 854 new parking spaces and pave former dirt parking areas.

Residents of Weeks Street expressed concerns that the overflow from the Transporter Road parking lot might cause traffic jams or that employees might speed through neighborhoods in the South End. Another point of contention was trash left behind in other parking areas and concerns with the maintenance of the parking lots.

“We want to talk about the priorities and concerns of you all in the room, and we want to consider the next steps of what this looks like to take what comes out of tonight and translate that into a process to address those concerns,” said David Plumb of Consensus Building Institute, which facilitated the meeting.

Bath residents raised multiple concerns, including a construction timeline, how to mitigate and control traffic, and noise pollution. Others worried about impacts on neighborhood property values, a shortage of green space and environmental concerns about the marsh area near Transporter Road.

Road improvement plans include widening Washington Street to three lanes instead of two and pulling the sidewalk off Washington Street from the Main Lot area close to Route 1 for more green space. According to engineers, a new turnstile is planned for the north gate and a dedicated bus stop is being considered across from Union Street.

BIW has acquired several residential properties near Fisher Court, along with the former church on Wesley Street, with the plan to remove or move the properties to expand the Fisher Court parking lot.

A transportation study will be conducted in partnership with the city, BIW and Maine DOT to evaluate all modes of transportation and modify and improve the Washington Street corridor.

“The objective here is to provide accessible parking for our employees, but in an efficient way that works for everybody,” said BIW Manager of Facilities and Strategic Capital Jake Harriman. “What that means is getting in and out of that lot as quickly and safely as possible without feeling impacts on our employees or the surrounding area.”

Harriman said BIW provides parking for about half of its 4,250 first-shift employees, but 2,000 employees seek alternative parking in and around the surrounding neighborhoods. The new parking areas attempt to solve the problems of BIW employees taking up parking spaces that other visitors, residents and business owners can use.

Fitzgerald said a greater percentage of BIW employees used to live in the city, but today, just 700 employees out of around 6,800 live in Bath, and the rest commute to work from 285 other cities and towns.