As the weather outside gets colder, students, faculty, and anyone else walking on campus face a common dilemma: icy sidewalks.

Last year, the city of Charleston and its residents faced a problem when salt supplies ran low amid the snowy weather.

This year, things turned out differently.

Tim Zimmer, the director of facilities, planning and management, said last year’s storm was a lesson well learned.

“We have plenty of salt this time around,” Zimmer said. “We anticipated the ice ahead of time, and we bought salt early.”

With plenty of salt in reserves, it would seem that icy sidewalks and walkways on campus should be taken care of; however, this is not the case.

“We have a limited staff,” Zimmer said. “We try to address the areas that are more hazardous than others.”

These areas include steps, landings and parking lots in order to ensure that these high traffic areas are safe to walk around.

“Not everything should get salted,” Zimmer said. “Like other professions, we can’t keep staff working 24 hours, otherwise, their work might get impacted.”

Since Zimmer does have a limited amount of workers, there may still be places on campus that are still icy, and anyone walking along these areas should take some precautions.

“Anyone that see a potentially hazardous area should report it in,” Zimmer said. “This helps us find more hazard area and that way we can address said areas.”

Therefore, for anyone walking in these areas, Zimmer advises caution while walking. Zimmer also added that students who are running late should be very careful in these areas.

He said students should allow the salting machinery to cover an area before trying to pass it or outrun it because they may injure themselves on a hazardous area.

“To students that are walking in these area, exercise caution,” Zimmer said. “Also if students know that they will be walking in these areas, they should plan ahead of time in order to not be late to class.”

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu.