More snow ahead

The sentiments are the same.\nMaintenance crews are tired of it. Students are sick of it. \nYet others are making the best of the situation. Snowmen -- even one made from a keg -- are popping up all over Bloomington in the latest winter storm that hit Monday.\nFour inches of snow poured down on Bloomington early Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. That makes a total of nine inches for the weekend, and the winter season isn't over yet.\nMore snow is expected Wednesday and Thursday, and the temperature isn't supposed to rise much above freezing until the weekend, according to the NWS.\nDave Hurst, manager of the IU Physical Plant Campus Division, said his crews and equipment are worn down because of constant work this winter. He said the combination of mechanical breakdowns and fatigue have produced problems.\n"Everybody's just physically whipped," he said.\nHurst said the plow crews were working on campus all night Saturday trying to move the leftover snow before more fell Monday.\n"If we would have left it this weekend, we wouldn't have got it moved today," he said.\nThe campus plow trucks began clearing the roads at 1 a.m. Monday morning, while other members of the maintenance crew plowed sidewalks, steps and landings beginning at 4 a.m., Hurst said.\nHe said all the crews will be returning at 4 a.m. Tuesday for more work.\n"Our biggest problem now is where to put the snow," Hurst said. "We just piled it on street corners -- basically out of the way. We'll start taking loads out to the football stadium (today)."\nHurst said the major priority for his crews has been clearing routes to classes, but they'll have to shift to the athletic areas soon for the weekend's tournaments.\nIU Police Department Sgt. Don Schmuhl said the ride into campus was slow this morning, but drivers were mostly careful.\nHe said there were seven accidents on campus that IUPD investigated -- three involving IU buses -- but he said that number has been typical most snow days this year. No one was reported injured.\n"The roads would have been worse had it been icy," Schmuhl said. "Once the streets got hit with sand and salt, the main ones were fine."\nJim Hosler, director of Campus Bus Service, said the campus buses ran well Monday morning until the snow at intersections was packed down. The large amount of snow is usually not a problem, but ice and slick spots makes it hard for the buses to make quick stops and starts, he said.\n"Usually it's not the amount of snow, it's when it hits," Hosler said. "Buses typically have weight to get through the snow."\nAround the city, Bloomington buses got off to a slow start because of early street conditions and parking lots that hadn't been plowed yet, but conditions improved throughout the day, said Lew May, general manager of Bloomington Transit.\nHe said there were a few places they weren't able to get in to, so the buses ran about five to 15 minutes late. May said this isn't typical for most snowfalls.\n"This time was worse," he said. "Given the amount of snow, I think we handled it pretty well"