Illinois State University has shut down the Grand Staircase right next to the Bone Student Center. This forces students to find an alternate route into the heart of campus. Although the staircase is the primary entrance to campus this is the second winter in a row it has been closed off to students. This is not simply a case of bad weather in central Illinois, Director of Biosaftey Adam McCrary noted the potential danger of the stairs.
“Lately we’ve actually been experiencing issues with freeze thaw cycles creating trip hazards on our stairs. So if you’ve noticed and you look at the stairs… We have some pretty serious projections… Where someone walking up or down the stairs could potentially trip on and injure themselves… So that’s what prompted us to make the decision to close them down,” McCrary said.
Due to the closure students find themselves walking through Milner Plaza or a nearby ramp, adding minutes onto their daily commutes. Students like Carter Rasche says the time has more than doubled.
“Normally, just going up the stairs like it’s pretty quick… Like it takes like two minutes from where I live to get onto the quad and milner, but now it takes probably five minutes, like five to seven minutes,” Rasche said.
ISU contractors are currently working on a solution to the problem for coming winters.