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Historically, when you needed to go somewhere, you headed to the train station. Now, when you just gotta go, we’ve got you covered too: new restrooms are open in the Snoqualmie Depot. A three month and nearly $160,000 investment has resulted in awesome new restrooms for downtown Snoqualmie. This innovative strategic partnership is a first in as far as Spike has been able to discover: the Museum owns the facility, paid for with a lodging tax grant from the City of Snoqualmie, but the City of Snoqualmie maintains the facility. In return, the facility is available as public restrooms and, because the Snoqualmie Depot is staffed seven days a week, the facilities are more family-friendly than a stand-alone restroom along Railroad Ave. The Museum gets that added benefit of additional visitation that may have otherwise missed or passed up the Snoqualmie Depot. The City gets the benefit of a safe and high quality restroom, something that always ranks high in importance for families, especially those with young children.

Construction has been underway since early January; progress was detailed here and here. They were designed by Seattle's MillerHull Partnership and constructed by Mr. K's Construction of North Bend. Come and check them out! Enjoy some coffee or tea at one of the great businesses across the street such as Koko Beans or Isadora’s. When you’ve finished, the new City of Snoqualmie public restrooms can take care of your wee!

Coming soon . . . new depot restrooms!

The Snoqualmie Depot restroom renovation project is progressing nicely. The project was outlined in a January post here and since then the old restrooms have been removed, the new walls and floor installed along with electrical and plumbing rough-in. This week, tile installation is underway. There are so many improvements the public will hardly recognize the place!

The new design incorporates an electric door opener to make the front door easier for wheel chair and walker users, and to assure ADA compliance. The design includes new low-flow toilets with slightly wider stalls than the old restrooms, and the flusher will operate with a sensor. And the gentlemen’s urinals will be waterless. Sink faucets will have sensors to activate water flow, which will stop when hands are removed. New hand driers will use high velocity air to dry hands. Lights will operate with motion sensors that will turn off when the facility is empty. The baby change tables will be relocated to the accessible toilet stalls so even the youngest patrons will have privacy.

The restroom floors are being tiled with medium gray ceramic tiles. The walls behind the toilets and sinks are tiled with white subway tiles installed with epoxy adhesive. The look really “feels” like a train station! Best of all, tile has a really long life cycle so millions more visitors can use the facilities.

The scope of work included replacement of the platform steps outside the restroom door and that work was completed in February. The platform elevation was raised nearly 4 inches to eliminate the entry threshold, a potential barrier to wheel chairs and ADA compliance. This also necessitated replacement stairs on the east end of the platform. As a bonus, the new stairs provide access to both the front and back of the depot.

New restrooms are scheduled for completion in time for the first train in April. A dedication (no doubt featuring a "royal flush") is being planned for later in the spring, so stay tuned!

New restrooms for the Depot

The Northwest Railway Museum’s Snoqualmie Depot receives about 90,000 visitors per year. Most arrive as families and many have young children. In those families, most decisions about family outings are made by mothers. Not surprisingly, most mothers rate clean, safe and accessible restrooms as essential to a successful and repeatable family outing.

The existing depot restrooms were constructed in 1979 as a component in the original Depot restoration. Over the last 30 years, these restrooms have served an estimated 2.5 million visitors. Despite a number of minor upgrades, the restrooms are at the end of their design life. In addition, they were constructed prior to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and consequently are not technically accessible.

Over the last decade or more, the City of Snoqualmie has conducted a number of surveys, studies and development plans intended to help guide downtown redevelopment. Accessible and clean public restrooms have consistently rated highly. So new public restrooms were accepted as a city priority and Snoqualmie City Council – on the recommendation of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee - designated lodging tax revenues to fund the project.

So it has been a priority of the Museum and the City of Snoqualmie to provide clean and accessible restrooms for tourists visiting downtown Snoqualmie. Unfortunately, the cost of a new stand-alone restroom facility was financially out of reach for the City; reconstructing the Snoqualmie Depot restrooms was financially out of reach for the Museum.

In an unusual but mutually beneficial arrangement, the City of Snoqualmie has formed a partnership with the Museum to fund the complete replacement of the Snoqualmie Depot restrooms. This will construct public restrooms at less than half the cost of a new stand-alone facility. Under the agreement, the Museum agrees to allow public access to the Depot, the City funds the construction, the Museum provides the space for the restrooms, and the City provides daily cleaning and maintenance of the facilities.

The new restrooms were designed by the Miller|Hull Partnership, a Seattle-based architectural firm also involved in the design of the new Train Shed. The construction contract for this $160,000 project has been awarded to North Bend-based Mr. K’s Construction. Subcontractors performing work include local businesses Bob’s Electric and Falls Plumbing. Construction began earlier this month (Jan 10) and will be completed by April in time for the beginning of the 2010 tourism season.

New public restrooms. Thanks to the City of Snoqualmie, and its forward thinking Mayor and Council, the depot restroom project is a win-win and an example of efficiencies a Public – Private Partnership can bring to a project. Notwithstanding, the biggest winners of all will be the thousands of visitors who will benefit from the use of new restrooms.