BIW outlines parking garage plan, traffic changes on Washington Street
BIW’s Washington Street plan could move 940 employee cars off the street, but Bath neighbors warned it may push more traffic into nearby neighborhoods.
A planned 940-car garage on Washington Street could change the daily grind around Bath Iron Works by shifting employee parking off nearby streets, but residents told BIW they were worried the project could send more traffic into surrounding neighborhoods and make shift changes even busier.
General Dynamics Bath Iron Works laid out the plan during a community conversation at the Maine Maritime Museum, where company officials described a garage on the Washington Street side of the shipyard, expanded surface lots, traffic enhancements and pedestrian-safety features. BIW said the garage would rise four levels above grade and extend two below grade, part of a broader effort to modernize the corridor and support operations at the Bath Iron Works shipyard.
The company first publicly announced the Washington Street corridor project on March 19, 2025, saying it would seek City of Bath approval for the parking garage and related transportation changes. BIW said the work was meant to address longstanding parking shortages and ease congestion during shift changes, a pressure point that has long affected Washington Street, one of the main routes around the shipyard and nearby downtown Bath.
The plan has already begun to reshape the area. On March 11, 2026, Bath discontinued a section of Fisher Court to clear the way for expanded employee parking tied to the BIW project. That move signaled the garage proposal was moving beyond concept and into the physical reworking of streets and lots around the shipyard and the surrounding neighborhood.
The corridor also includes the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion & Repair, USN, at 574 Washington Street, placing another Navy-related facility inside the same stretch BIW is targeting for changes. BIW has said its Washington Street investments are part of a larger push to support people, recruiting and retention, while improving quality of life for employees and reducing pressure on nearby streets. For Bath residents and businesses along Washington Street, the immediate question is how those changes will alter commuting patterns, parking access and neighborhood traffic once construction and lot reconfiguration move ahead.
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