Thanks to an expansion of a YMCA facility, The 606 trail will finally get bathrooms.

On July 25, a crew broke ground on the $9.4 million expansion at the McCormick Tribune YMCA in Humboldt Park at 1834 N. Lawndale Ave. that includes a unisex public bathroom. The YMCA announced in May plans to build two public bathrooms at the west end of The 606 trail as well as a two-story facility with indoor pools, multi-purpose rooms, and a locker room.

The requirement for bathrooms along the trail was included in an ordinance introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and tied to the sale of the city-owned site to the YMCA. The lack of bathrooms is one of the elevated park’s biggest issues.

Currently, there isn’t a public bathroom at any of the four ground-level parks along the trail. While many public parks don’t have restrooms on site, the trail’s size and shape are unique. “It’s the kind of place where people spend more time,” Ben Helphand, president and co-founder of the Friends of Bloomingdale Trail volunteer organization, told DNAInfo back in May.

Last year the trail had an estimated 1.6 million visitors, and according to the U.S. Forest Service, the number of users is trending up 15 percent this year. In the past two years, people using the trail were commonly stopping at gas stations and restaurants to use the bathroom, some without being a customer.

The YMCA expansion is said to also provide local adults and youth in Wicker Park, Logan Square, Humboldt Park, and Hermosa access to swimming facilities year-round.

“I think it's a wonderful reflection of how the Y is a great neighbor," a city deputy mayor Steve Koch told DNAInfo. 

The entire expansion, including the bathrooms, is expected to open in the fall of 2018.