Two Permanent Public Toilets are Fully Armed and Operational Downtown

The Brazos Street “Portland Loo” permanent public restroom facility during its installation last month. The restroom opened on February 7 last week. Image: City of Austin Public Works Department

After several years of planning, two of the three permanent “Portland Loo” public restroom facilities previously announced by the City of Austin are officially installed and “open for business,” you might say, in the downtown area.

The restrooms, one on the east side of Trinity Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets and the other on the east side of Brazos Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, are a project between the city’s Public Works, Transportation, and Economic Development Departments, in partnership with the Downtown Austin Alliance. Though they were installed in January, the facilities didn’t open to the public until February 7 last week.

Another view of the Brazos Street toilet’s installation late last month. Image: City of Austin Public Works Department

These facilities follow the completion of a pilot program of mobile restrooms ordered by City Council in 2016, which popped up for a set length of time over the last couple of years at five sites downtown and gathered usage data to determine the ideal location for a permanent solution. A third restroom, expected near the intersection of East Seventh Street and the I-35 Frontage Road, has yet to be installed.

The Downtown Austin Alliance will temporarily provide cleaning and maintenance services through the beginning of May. The units will be cleaned/serviced multiple times per day, and available for use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the meantime, multiple City departments are working collaboratively to develop a long-term plan to manage, maintain and service these restrooms.  

— Austin Public Works Project Update, February 7, 2020

The Trinity Street restroom facility during its installation late last month. The restroom officially opened to the public on February 7 last week. Image: City of Austin Public Works Department

The Portland Loo, a solar-powered, prefabricated steel facility originally designed by the City of Portland to provide public restroom access while discouraging illicit use, costs somewhere between $90,000 and $140,000 per unit including installation. Depending on the availability of future funding, the City of Austin could order more downtown restrooms in the future — the 2018 contract for the Loos indicated we could purchase a total of 10 over the next five years. That’s an awful lot of toilets!

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