Winter weather increases workload for Office of Physical Plant

By CORY SHINDEL
Collegian Staff Writer

As students returned to sleep yesterday morning after learning of cancelled classes, workers at the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) continued their tireless work to clear the remains of last night's storm from the roads and walkways on campus.

After reviewing the weather forecast predicted for last night, OPP devised a plan for the most efficient means of clearing ice and snow.

According to Paul Ruskin, spokesperson for OPP, preparing campus for students following a winter storm is no small feat. Due to the extensive grounds of the University Park campus, cleaning up after the winter weather is a time-consuming endeavor. Last Friday night's storm created nearly 29 hours of work for OPP crews, Ruskin said.

"OPP tries very hard to do the best job possible to remove snow from campus as soon as possible, but keep in mind this is a large campus -- there are 15,000 acres of land at University Park," he said. "We have 31 miles of paved roads and 23 miles of sidewalks, and that's a lot of shoveling."

Expecting last night's weather to bring a mix of freezing rain and snow, OPP postponed plowing efforts to allow for more traction on campus walkways and roads.

"The plan was to apply anti-skid and salt, but to resist plowing as long as possible so there would be slush on the surfaces of sidewalks instead of ice," Ruskin said.

Though OPP took countless measures yesterday to make campus accessible to students, classes were cancelled due to the inclement weather. The decision to cancel classes was made early yesterday morning after waiting to evaluate conditions responsibly and make an informed decision, said Alan Janesch, assistant manager of the news bureau of Penn State's Department of Public Information.

In addition to cancelled classes, university libraries closed yesterday because of the weather, though a number of computer labs remained open for student use, said Christine Rambeau, manager of the news bureau of the Department of Public Information. She added that while yesterday's closings were an inconvenience for some, the snow and ice were not surprising for winter in State College.

"It puts everybody a little bit behind, but we do live in Central Pennsylvania where the weather is hard at times," Rambeau said. "We just have to go with nature."