Mill Creek Office and Bennington Lake to get new restrooms; parking lot closures to occur on Dec. 5

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Vehicle and pedestrian access to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mill Creek Office parking area and portions of the Bennington Lake parking area will be closed on Wednesday, Dec. 5 to allow contractors to install new public restrooms.

The closures are necessary to help keep visitors safe while construction vehicles and a large crane are in use during installation. Limited parking outside the construction area will be available at Bennington Lake, and visitors will still be able to access the Mill Creek and Bennington Lake Trail system from the lake or Rooks Park Road. Visitors needing to meet with Mill Creek Office staff during this time should call the office at 509-527-7160 to arrange to meet staff outside the work area. The parking areas are slated to reopen on Thursday, Dec. 6. 

Both new restrooms will be two-stall buildings with flush toilets and will be open year-round, replacing the old restrooms which were installed in the 1990s and required winterization and closure each year. The new, pre-fabricated concrete structures with modernized plumbing will require less maintenance. Once installed, the new facilities will need to be connected to water, septic and electric lines. Until the new restrooms are functional in mid-December, portable toilets will be available for visitors use.

“While this one-day closure will temporarily inconvenience visitors who come out to enjoy the trails, we’re confident they will appreciate the new restrooms,” said Mill Creek Park Ranger Chris Alford. “This will be a huge improvement to the old visitor restrooms.

“The restroom at the lake was inundated during the 1996 flood for about a month resulting in many rotten boards and increased maintenance problems to fix,” he explained. “The old office parking lot restroom had been moved there from Rooks Park and was not fitted to be available year-round.”

For more information about Mill Creek Dam and Bennington Lake, call the Mill Creek Office or visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/millcreekdam.

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