Two more on-street public toilets are set for installation in downtown Austin in the coming weeks. Each stainless steel unit will be staffed 24-hours per day and will be cleaned regularly. But they are far from inexpensive, each coming with a price tag of $140,000 apiece.
Margaret Shaw with Austin’s Economic Development Department told the Downtown Commission on Wednesday the two new toilets should be in operation no later than the end of January.
“The units themselves – the two Portland Loos – are on schedule, so we’re looking at a January operation,” she said. “We’re in the final stages of negotiating with the Downtown Austin Alliance for those maintenance and operation contracts.”
Following a six-month pilot program in 2017 in which a toilet was installed at 6th Street and I-35, the city gave the greenlight for more permanent units to be added. The first permanent unit was expected to be in place by this fall, but due to some labor issues related to the company that makes the toilets, the installation was pushed back until January.
The first two public toilets, known as “Waterloos” here in Austin, will be constructed at 4th and Trinity and 5th and Brazos, with a third planned for next year on the I-35 frontage road between 6th and 7th streets.
Initially, there was a plan to install a permanent unit at 6th and Red River, about a block away from the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, but that plan was scrapped after a temporary unit placed in that location was damaged significantly by vandals and others who made use of it.
Along with the initial $140,000 cost, each unit will require an additional $25,000 per year for twice-daily cleanings, seven days a week.
To offset the high cost of the public toilets, the city has considered using parking revenues.
The ultimate goal, the city says, is to mitigate human waste on Austin streets, and to give the public – especially the homeless – easier access to public restroom facilities.
