Last week, the Champaign-Urbana area received its first significant snowfall, marking the unofficial beginning of the winter season.

The cities of Champaign and Urbana, along with the University, responded to the snowstorm with little problems and are ready to handle whatever the next few months bring.

John Collins, street supervisor for the Urbana Public Works department, said the snow caught his department by surprise.

“We’ve accepted the fact that winter is here to stay,” Collins said. “We were expecting around two inches (of snow) and not the eight or so inches that fell.”

Nonetheless, Collins said Public Works had been preparing for any snowfall for the past month. Urbana prepared by gathering all the necessary equipment needed to combat any storm, such as road salt.

With last weekend’s snowfall, Collins added that readjustment to the use of their equipment was necessary in finding out just how much will be needed.

The city of Champaign responded last week with a round-the-clock effort to clear all city streets. According to a recent press release, city staff began working Friday night and worked 12-hour continuous shifts to speed up the cleaning process.

The city’s goal was to keep residents within proximity of primary routes; 90 percent of residents were within two blocks of a usable primary route. Champaign did not have to activate any of their emergency snow routes.

Bus lines tried their best to stay on schedule, said Jan Kijowski, marketing director for the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, or CUMTD. She said bus ridership always increases during inclement weather, especially during snowstorms.

Kijowksi said the CUMTD staff does its best in staying on schedule by going with an “all hands on deck” approach; the staff goes out and plows major bus stops and nearby sidewalks, helping out passengers with any problems they may encounter.

“As much as we try to keep the buses on schedule, it is not always possible with certain weather conditions,” Kijowski said.

The best advice for passengers, Kijowski added, is to check on real-time bus route data, available online through CUMTD’s website or through mobile phones.

University Facilities and Services, meanwhile, has a plan set up as well. Andy Blacker, publicity specialist for Facilities and Services, said in a statement that it is his department’s duty to keep the campus accessible to everyone even under the worst weather conditions.

Blacker noted that although budget cuts have made it necessary to rethink ice and snow removal policies,they still make an effort to clear up primary routes and priority locations first.

Priority locations include handicapped spaces, food service docks, Orchard Downs parking, McKinley Health Center, the Vet-Med facilities and other locations requiring priority accessibility.

“Campus snow removal is a carefully planned, cooperative effort involving Building Operations, Grounds, Building Maintenance crews and the cities of Champaign and Urbana,” Blacker said in the statement. “We are committed to making campus as accessible as possible as quickly as possible, but we need everyone’s patience and cooperation to make it happen.”