Campus Facilities clear falling ice after storms

By Jaryd Wilson

Published Feb. 2, 2007

Snow and ice storms throughout the school year have several campus and city services busy. An estimated 15 inches of snowfall on Dec. 1, as well as several other winter storms throughout the winter semester, have MU Campus Facilities Landscape Services constantly removing snow and ice as part of their ground maintenance.

With these storms has come the danger of falling ice from buildings. A campus-wide e-mail was sent out warning students and staff, but Campus Facilities spokesman Phil Shocklee said Campus Facilities has taken extra safety measures to ensure that nobody gets hurt.

"Campus Facilities maintenance crews check buildings daily for falling or overhanging ice and uses caution tape to restrict areas where snow or ice may fall," Shocklee said. In addition to landscape services, the City of Columbia and the Missouri Department of Transportation help to clear the snow and ice.

"Most streets on campus are city streets and are cleared by the city of Columbia," Shocklee said. "Highways such as College Avenue, Stadium Boulevard and Providence Road are state highways and are cleared by MoDOT."

Shocklee said MU Custodial Services is responsible for clearing building entrances and steps.

"Campus Facilities crews have worked around the clock to clear the campus of snow," Shocklee said. "Due to the severity of these storms, additional manpower was provided by MU Construction Services."

In addition to clearing snow and ice, Campus Facilities is involved with the construction of several major building projects on campus including the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory and the International Institute for Nano and Molecular Medicine.

The Department of Residential Life is responsible for construction projects such as the Schurz and Bingham halls renovation project and the Baker-Park and Gardner-Hyde halls demolition. The Missouri Unions is responsible for the expansion of the MU Student Center.

Although many construction and maintenance projects continue, Shocklee said no closures or outages would occur.

"There are no scheduled closings of major roads or sidewalks this semester," Shocklee said. "Campus Facilities tries to schedule as much of this type of work during the summer months when there are fewer students on campus, to minimize any inconveniences."

Shocklee said no major water, power or heat outages were scheduled and if necessary, would be done at night to avoid affecting as many people as possible.