LEWISTON — Lewiston Schools Superintendent Bill Webster, who moved here in January, can do something many longtime Lewiston residents can’t: tell you where every neighborhood in the city is.

He’s been there.

On Wednesday Webster, 61, finished his goal of running on every street, road, circle, avenue and drive in Lewiston.

That’s 187 miles, according to Lewiston Public Works Director Dave Jones.

Webster decided last winter to run all of the streets of Lewiston to get to know his new city. He started in January on downtown streets lined with snowbanks. He finished on country roads lined with lush gardens and apple orchards.

Webster was pleased, and a little sad.

“It’s nice to achieve goals, but life is the journey as much as the destination,” he said. He’ll miss his nightly ritual of planning and mapping the next morning run.

The adventure gave him many memorable sights.

One was on No Name Pond Road near Greene when he saw the pond for the first time. He saw the sun dancing off the water, the little beach, green trees and rolling hills. The postcard image could have been a scene from the mountains, Webster said.

On Wednesday he jogged past apple orchards and fields planted with vegetables.

“These are places and things one would not think about Lewiston,” Webster said.

He knows where the one-way streets, the big hills and the roads near the Androscoggin River are.

He noticed the layout of Lewiston. Some of it is haphazard like Boston. Other sections look well-planned.

The city’s three major arteries, Main, Lisbon and Sabattus streets, protect many residential areas from more traffic, Webster said. “There are a lot of areas you just can’t pass through. For example, between Randall Road and Grove Street are a number of roads you’d only go to if you’re going to a residence.”

A former school superintendent in Ellsworth who moved to Lewiston last winter, Webster said there are advantages to getting to know his town at the ground level.

It’s a nice way to meet people in the community, he said. “People ask, ‘How are you doing on your running?’” And the experience will put him in a stronger position for future decisions about school neighborhoods and school construction, he said.

He finished his running-through-Lewiston project in time to welcome his family. His wife and daughter, who just graduated from Ellsworth High School, will join him in their new home June 13.

He plans to participate in local runs, such as the Dempsey Challenge, and make shorter runs each morning with the family’s two dogs.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

Answers:

1. Main Street, Sabattus Street and Lisbon Street, are all more than 4.5 miles long, but Sabattus is the longest street at 5.5 miles.

2. The roof of a house on Russell Street between Sabattus Street and East Avenue is painted with a section of the American flag.

3. Lewiston’s highest point is in Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary at 510 feet and can only be reached by foot. Sections of three streets in Lewiston top 400 feet, East Avenue, Ferry Road and Old Greene Road, but Old Greene Road is the only street more than 420 feet above sea level.

4. Ashmount, Fairmount, Grovemount, Hillmount, Rosemount and Treemount.

5. Every street in Lewiston is more than 100 feet above sea level, but the lowest point has to be on a section of River Road that is just a few feet above the Androscoggin River.

6. Pine Street and Ash Street are Lewiston’s longest one-way streets, with Pine the longest at 1 mile.

7. 16 streets leave Lewiston. Sleeper Road, however, soon dead-ends in Greene and Jordan becomes Town Farm in Lisbon, which quickly ends at a private residence.

8. Switzerland Road, off outer Main Street, runs 1.3 miles parallel to the Androscoggin River and terminates at Florida Power and Light.

9: No Name Pond Road goes past the public beach at the north end of No Name Pond.

10. I came up with a minimum of two traffic lights using public streets in Lewiston, and one light if one uses a short private road.

To compare routes with Webster, email him at wwebster@gwi.net.

So, Do You Know Lewiston?

(Webster’s definition: The word street is used for any public byway – street, road, circle, avenue, etc.)

1. What is the longest street in Lewiston?

2. Lewiston’s most patriotic house is on which street?

3. Which street has the highest elevation above sea level in Lewiston?

4. What are the six streets, all within a quarter-mile of each other, that end with the same syllable?

5. Which street in Lewiston is the lowest elevation above sea level?

6. What is Lewiston’s longest one-way street?

7. How many streets (not counting the Maine Turnpike) could one drive to leave Lewiston? Which two, however, wouldn’t get you very far?

8. What is Lewiston’s longest dead-end street?

9. Which street will take you to a public beach in Lewiston?

10. What is the minimum number of traffic lights one must go through to travel legally by car from the Greene/Lewiston line on Main Street to the Franco-American Heritage Center?

Click here to see the answers.

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