If you’re waiting for new toilets to be installed at the top of Independence Pass, you might have to wait until the end of the month, and perhaps until next spring.

The two concrete buildings from CXT Concrete Buildings Forest Service officials expected to arrive Friday have been delayed due to the complicated logistics and extra cost associated with hauling them up Highway 82 from Twin Lakes on the east side of the pass.

“I was expecting toilets to roll in today, and now I have no idea when they are coming,” said Jon Morrissey, the Leadville District Ranger for the San Isabel National Forest. “I’d say it’s 50/50 that it will happen this season.”

Kurt Mee, a sales manager with CXT Inc., was a bit more optimistic.

“We’re looking toward the end of September right now,” Mee said.

He explained that while the company signed a contract with the Forest Service for the two bathroom buildings on Independence Pass that included transporting and installing them, the company has run into complications with moving the pre-cast concrete buildings and underground vaults up Highway 82.

The two buildings and two vaults each require a special custom trailer to haul and because the route is on a state highway, the move will require eight pilot cars, a state trooper escort and the closure of the road for at least half an hour.

“There are a lot of issues when you go into something like this and there are a lot of additional costs,” Mee said. “And the Forest Service has to

Which means that an amendment to the Forest Service contract will likely be required, which could take some time.

But District Ranger Morrissey said “now they want quite a bit more money.” The bathroom buildings will cost the Forest Service about $80,000 before the additional transportation costs are included. Morrissey said a conference call with Forest Service and CXT representatives has been set for Wednesday.

The parking lot at the top of Independence Pass is on the eastern side of the Continental Divide and in the jurisdiction of the San Isabel National Forest. The permanent bathrooms will replace the seven portable toilets at the top of the pass today.

There are similar bathroom buildings from CXT at the top of Vail Pass, and three of the “Rocky Mountain” models from CXT were recently put in place at the Lake View campground at Twin Lakes.

The same models are heading, eventually, to the top of Independence Pass.
bgs@aspendailynews.com