Duke Park Improvements

The new restroom building that was set in place in Duke Park on Jan 24 will be open for use by the end of March. To be completed in March are final utility and electric connections, accessible walkways connecting the building to the existing sidewalks, and fine grading and seeding in the construction zone. The building is a pre-fabricated fully concrete structure from CXT Inc. – 4 inch thick steel reinforced walls and 5 inch thick steel reinforced roof – with all stainless steel appliances inside. The pipes are entirely within the center plumbing chase, so protected from vandalism, and are warmed enough to prevent freezing so that we can keep the restroom building open year round. Even the mirror is stainless steel, and each restroom has an electric hand drier to eliminate towel litter. The building and installation cost $137,026; D. W. Ward Construction managed the project. The project manager worked with the City’s Urban Forestry unit to cover and protect the surface tree roots during the installation. Once the restroom is on-line, it will be maintained and serviced by the DPR Park Maintenance staff (who can be contacted at 919-560-1701) – Beth Timson, City DPR

Note: The main recent holdup has been electrical–Duke Energy is very short handed what with sending crews to snow disaster areas and shoveling coal ash.