Student Tribune
How was your long weekend?
Long doesn't begin to describe the grounds and maintenance staff's. This
weekend marked the return of Residence Hall students, athletic events in the
PAC, and a little snowstorm with bitterly cold temperatures. (Sound
familiar?)
That 16.5" of official snow was met head on by our 6 member grounds crew and
several maintenance mechanics armed with every piece of equipment we had. You
might not have seen them because they worked 8-14 hour shifts through the
night. Most of the nights they started at 10 pm or 3 am depending on when the
snow was falling. The entire campus was plowed 4 times total. Why so many?
Because if the snow gets too deep we don't have enough horse power and traction
to push it across the parking lots. Snowflakes are light, but snow banks are
heavy. While it was too cold for salt to work, we used specially treated salt
to lower its effective temperature. It has taken all weekend to loosen up the
packed snow on the roadway, but it is finally coming loose. The lots are also
covered in packed snow so the lines are harder to see. The salt and sun are
working together to break through the hard packed snow and they will be showing
shortly. (Monday afternoon)
Now for the trivia fans:
232 person hours of labor clocked
40,000 pounds of treated salt
2,500 pounds of sidewalk ice melt
216 gallons of gasoline
300 gallons of diesel fuel
A question I have been asked is why are we leaving a dusting of snow on many
surfaces? What we are finding is the hard packed snow is slipperier than some
snow dust. If we can't break through the hard pack, it is better to leave
something on it for traction. On Tuesday we had an early flurry, so we left
some on to improve traction. This freed up the crew to concentrate on shoveling
doorways and emergency exits. We have to have them clear when school is open.
Our small crew has done their best. Kudos to them.
Now you know, the rest of the story.
Grindle, Blaine
Facilities
01/23/2019