University spends $100K per year to combat snow and ice
In order to keep the campus grounds safe and accessible for students and faculty, Central Michigan University’s snow and ice control teams monitor weather patterns daily and work on a 24-hour basis.
The university spends roughly $100,000 to support and manage the snow and ice control programs for the typical winter season. Most funds go toward salt, which is used to maintain ice coverage done by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Money is also spent on the maintenance of equipment such as blades and plows for the vehicles in the team’s fleet.
Landscape operations manager Matt Weaver is in charge of the Grounds Team system that handles campus maintenance year-round. The Grounds Team and its 17 staff members work primarily as snow and ice control teams during the winter.
Weaver said this winter season, the teams have been called 18 times to plow parking lots and treat paved surfaces.
In the event of a snow storm, teams begin working at around 10 p.m. to plow parking lots — starting with the East Campus lots and working north before circling around and finishing in West Campus. The team always works toward the goal of having at least one path open to every building on campus by 7 a.m., Weaver said.
“We try to plan as much as we can for the weather so we can ensure a 24-hour coverage cycle,” Weaver said. “Storms can hit at any time, so we have a schedule that lets us be ready at any time to go to work.”
Weaver works closely with Jonathan Webb, associate vice president of Facilities Management, to monitor weather before snowstorms. Facilities Management follows long-range forecasts from multiple news sources to get the most accurate prediction.
The team operate out of Ground South, a garage facility located southwest of Kelly Sports Stadium between Lots 69 and 68. The garage also houses all of the vehicles used by the Grounds Team, including several pickup trucks attached with plows and salt dispensers, John Deere carts that can be outfitted with blades meant for removing from sidewalks and three loaders that are used to plow the larger student parking lots. Two dump trucks are also used to spread salt on the roads near campus.
Plowing for the commuter, staff and faculty lots is done using the larger loading vehicle because the lots are typically cleared out by the time the teams go to work. Pickup trucks with plows are used to clear residence hall and apartment parking lots, as many student vehicles remain in those lots all day, making it more difficult to maneuver.
“My crew has it down to a science at this point,” Weaver said. “There is an eight-to-nine-hour period that it takes to get everything cleaned up and ready for students to be able to move around safely.”
Ice storms are more troublesome than snow storms, Weaver said. Unlike snow, where there is a “science” to which paths need to be plowed in what way, ice that forms on campus is more random and less easy to determine.
The teams need to take many different factors into account, like when and where ice will form and how effective their ice melt materials will be, including the duration, intensity and temperature of the storm weather.
