New Single-Stall Restroom Opens On Centennial Trail

Centennial Trail users will no longer have to run for the nearest bush when nature calls.

On Wednesday the first of four new restrooms being installed along the trail opened at the Barker Road trailhead in the Valley.

Before, “everyone carried toiletpaper in their backpacks, because you never knew” said James Pugh a member of the Spokane Bicycle Club who rides the trail at least once a week. “This means we’ve got a place to stop.”

The new single-stall concrete restroom will be open year-round.

CXT Inc., a Spokane Valley firm that manufactures concrete restrooms for the U.S. Forest Service, donated the $10,000 commode.

It’s fire-, vandal- and earthquake-resistant. At present, it’s also the only toilet along the 18-mile stretch from Mission Park in east Spokane to the Idaho state line.

Not only is this one-holer a bathroom battalion, but it also has a special design to whisk away foul smells, said Nick Bianco, regional sales manager for CXT.

“People love them because they smell good,” he said.

Within the next 45 days, more toilets will be added along the trail in the Valley, he said.

Single-stall toilets will be added at Sullivan Road and Minnehaha Rocks trailheads. A double-stall toilet will be installed at the Plantes Ferry Park trailhead.

A two-stall restroom will also be installed at Fish Lake Park, southwest of Spokane. The total cost is $69,000, said county parks manager Wyn Birkenthal.

Meanwhile, the Centennial Trail section under the new Harvard Road Bridge is open for use. The soil is packed and paving will begin early next week, county officials said.

Previously, trail users had to cross busy Harvard Road.

Crews are still completing work on the $3.75 million bridge, which is being widened to four lanes, plus a bicycle lane and an elevated sidewalk.

A parking lot will be built on the southwest side of the bridge.

, DataTimes