The advanced notice of Tuesday night’s snow gave the university and the hospital enough time to plan ahead and prevent a shutdown of services.
Tony Proudfoot, a university spokesperson, said the university was monitoring the weather Tuesday night.
“We knew we wouldn’t be able to get campus cleared until around 10 or 11,” Proudfoot said. “We monitored the weather of the evening and we just determined the ground crews needed a little more time to get things cleared so people could get around campus safely.”
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities, said crews wouldn’t be able to get things cleared fast enough with students coming to campus.
“A lot of snow came down all at one time,” he said. “It was just too close to our normal opening. We have a fixed amount of manpower and a fixed amount of equipment.”
University Police Department wasn’t involved in the decision to extend today’s delay, but UPD has the ability to make suggestions for delays or closings if the conditions mean that people are in danger, Police Chief Gene Burton said.
During today’s snow, UPD has responded to stranded motorists.
“The more bad weather there is, the more people in need of assistance,” Burton said. “So there has been more this winter.”
While the university made the decision to extend the delay an extra hour, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital was able to make accommodations for the snow. Neil Gifford, manager of public relations and marketing at the hospital, said staff and ambulance crews were able to prepare for potential problems and delays.
“Usually, in cases like this, we have employees with four-wheel drive who volunteer to bring in doctors, nurses and other staff,” Gifford said. “So, we did have those crews out. We did have team members helping other team members.”
While advanced preparations played an important role in keeping campus travel safe, an arrival of salt helped the university prepare for the weather heading into tonight.
“The salt will come into play tonight and [Thursday],” Kenyon said. “Right now, we’re just focused on getting the snow removed. Once we go through a freeze and frost cycle, it’s going to play a bigger role.”
Facilities received approximately 25 tons of salt today and expects the salt to last through the weekend. Kenyon said the university can go through as much as 150 tons and 170 tons of salt per year.
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