Portable restrooms for race start, finish and turnaround points in Austin, sized to the peak hour and placed on the route the permit allows.
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Race portable restrooms are cluster placements at the start, finish and turnaround points of a course, sized to the peak hour rather than the total entrants. In Austin the route, the parkland and the city's event tier set where the clusters go and how far ahead they must be booked.
A race is a sanitation problem with a clock on it. Runners arrive together, leave together and need a toilet in the same ten minutes before the start, and the finish area and the turnaround points have their own peak. Each cluster needs its own units and handwashing, and a single block of toilets at the start does nothing for the runner who needs one at mile ten. The count is set by the peak hour at each point on the course.
Austin's race routes run along the trail beside Lady Bird Lake, through Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park and along parkland beside the Colorado River. Those are open, shared spaces with trail traffic, so units are placed off the trail where possible and clear of the route.
The city runs its special-event process through the Austin Center for Events, which sorts applications into four tiers. The tier sets the submission deadline, which runs from 3 business days for Tier 1 to 180 calendar days for Tier 4 before the first event day, and the deadlines shift in spring festival season. A race that needs a closure of a street or a sidewalk also goes through the right-of-way process, so the restroom plan is drawn into the application rather than added afterward.
Count the peak hour at each cluster, not the total entrants. Start, finish and turnaround points each get their own count, and the number is confirmed with the permitting office.
City guidance works to about one toilet per 50 people at expected peak attendance, and it recommends that 5 to 10 percent of the units be ADA-accessible. The parks department applies a different and lower figure on its special-request form, and it decides whether temporary toilets are needed at all. A race in a park is therefore counted twice, once against each office's rule, and the higher answer is not automatically the right one.
A race that passes a water station or an aid station needs its own count at that point. Runners who stop at an aid station stay longer than runners who pass through it, so the peak there is set by how many stop at once, not by how many run past.
A race inside the city goes through the Austin Center for Events and, where a street or sidewalk is closed, through the right-of-way process. A race outside the city goes through the county or the city that arranges events in its limits.
The Austin Center for Events sorts events into four tiers, with deadlines that run from 3 business days for Tier 1 to 180 calendar days for Tier 4. Tier 3 and Tier 4 events receive preliminary approval or denial within 10 business days and final approval 30 calendar days before the event. Special-event guidance asks for five feet of continuous, undisturbed pedestrian access where items are placed on a sidewalk.
A closure of a sidewalk or a driveway needs a Temporary Use of Right of Way permit, and 311 must be notified at least three days before a planned sidewalk or alley closure. Those are general right-of-way rules, and this page does not claim a separate permit for a portable restroom on its own.
The number of clusters, the count at each cluster, the number of days, the distance of each placement from the yard, and the access to the park or street. The provider explains the price and it is approved before work starts.
A course that spreads its clusters over many points costs more to service than one that concentrates them, because each cluster is a separate stop for the crew. A course that starts and finishes in one park is simpler, but a long course with several turnarounds adds time on the route.
No figure is given here. A price depends on the race, the dates and the permit conditions, and the provider confirms it for the site before delivery.
Sometimes, but not as the count. The park's restrooms can serve a finish or a start, and the permitting office says how they fit into the plan.
Organizers have said the park restrooms at Zilker Metropolitan Park were upgraded to flushable toilets for a major festival, which is a fact about that park's own facilities. A race in a different park does not inherit that standard, and a race that relies on a park building for its peak load needs the building's capacity confirmed with the park before the event.
Using a park building also does not replace the handwashing and the accessible unit each cluster needs. Those are placed by the race, so the count and the accessibility stay with the race plan from the start.
A course map with each cluster marked, the expected entrants and peak hour at each point, a site plan that matches the permit, and a named contact for the crew on race day.
The site plan should show every unit, every handwashing station, the accessible unit in each cluster and the route to it. The permit reviewer will look for the same layout the crew will set, so the drawing goes into the application as it will be built.
Heat changes the race day. In an average year Austin has about 29 days at 100 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, and a summer race needs its servicing planned around the heat.
Do not place a unit on a trail where it blocks runners or cyclists, and do not set a cluster on a creek bank or on ground that has recently been under water. Do not let handwashing wastewater run onto the grass or into a creek, and do not connect any unit to a park hydrant or drain without the park's approval. Chemical toilet waste goes only to authorized facilities. If a unit tips, leaks or blocks a route, the provider should be called before race staff try to move it.
The route is walked with the race director or the permit contact, and each point where people gather is marked as a cluster: the start, the finish, any turnaround, and any aid station. A cluster is planned by the peak hour at that point, so the start has one count and the finish has another.
The count is worked from expected entrants and the peak hour, then checked against the city's guidance of about one toilet per 50 people at peak. The parks department applies its own figure where a park is involved, and it decides whether temporary toilets are required at all, so the number is confirmed with the permitting office before the order is placed.
Units are placed on firm, level ground beside the route and out of the path of runners and trail users. The accessible unit in each cluster sits on a level pad with a route that is clear of the course.
Handwashing and drying stations go beside the unit clusters, with wastewater taken to a holding tank. The race's own aid stations do not replace this, because the sanitation rule is judged on the toilet location itself.
The crew services the clusters during the race and removes the units after the last finisher and the course has been cleared. The waste goes only to an authorized disposal facility, and the placement is checked for ruts and spilled waste before the crew leaves the park or the street.
The start cluster carries the heaviest load in the first ten minutes before the gun, so it needs the most units. It is placed close enough to the start that runners do not have to leave the line, but far enough back that the start corral is not blocked. A start cluster often includes an accessible unit and a handwashing station beside the units.
The finish cluster serves runners who are tired, cold or wet, and its peak comes as the field arrives in waves. Units are placed so the exit from the finish area does not run through the toilet line. The finish is also where family members wait, so the count includes spectators, not only entrants.
A turnaround point is where runners reverse direction and spectators gather to watch. It usually needs fewer units than the start, but it needs them on a firm pad with a route that does not cross the course. Where an aid station stands on a long section, a small cluster with handwashing sits beside it so the stop does not require a walk into the park.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what marathon & race portable restrooms should cost.
Austin's race ground is mostly shared public parkland. The trail beside Lady Bird Lake carries runners, cyclists and walkers at the same time, and the placements have to leave the trail open.
Creek and river flooding shape where units can sit. Creeks such as Walnut Creek, Boggy Creek and Shoal Creek can rise quickly after heavy rain, and a cluster set on low ground near a bank can be moved or lost.
Permits in Austin move on a calendar that the race cannot control. The tier deadlines shift in spring festival season, and a race planned for March runs alongside SXSW downtown and Rodeo Austin at the Expo Center. Austin Porta Potty Rental puts the restroom plan into the application early so the count, the placement and the handwashing are on file before the deadline.
Portable restroom planning for large motorsport weekends at a raceway in Del Valle, from unit ratios to the county mass-gathering permit.
Portable restrooms for downtown street festivals and parades, planned around the right-of-way permit, pedestrian access and the peak crowd.
Festival and music event restrooms planned from peak attendance, permit tiers and the accessible unit count.
Accessible portable restrooms for events and job sites in Austin, with unit counts, placement and the sidewalk rules that govern them.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
The Austin Center for Events sorts special-event applications into four tiers, and each tier has its own deadline before the first event day.
Austin's event guidance recommends 5 to 10 percent of portable toilets be ADA-accessible, and it states the federal requirement as at least one, or 5 percent, in each cluster.
The count is set by the peak hour at each cluster, not the total number of entrants. City guidance works to about one toilet per 50 people at expected peak, and the parks department applies its own figure where a park is involved.
Yes, handwashing and drying facilities are placed beside the unit clusters. The mass-gathering standard asks for them near each toilet location, and the race's aid stations do not replace them.
In each cluster, on a firm level pad with a route that is clear of the course. The ADA standard, as the city's event guidance states it, asks for at least one or 5 percent of the units in each cluster to be accessible, and the city recommends 5 to 10 percent.
Not in a way that blocks the trail. Units are set on firm ground beside the trail, leaving the path open for runners, cyclists and walkers.
As early as the race permit allows. Austin's tier deadlines run from 3 business days for Tier 1 to 180 calendar days for Tier 4, and a race that closes a street or a sidewalk needs its right-of-way plan in the application.
The crew removes them after the last finisher and after the course is cleared. The waste goes to an authorized disposal facility, and the placement is checked for ruts and spilled waste before the crew leaves the park or the street.