A small snow plow heads toward the KU dorm parking lots on Daisy Hill from KU's West Campus trailed by a Park and Ride bus Tuesday. Although the bus was scrolling text wishing KU students well on their finals, it was an appropriate announcement for everyone out and about in Tuesday's snowstorm.

Lawrence residents who don’t live on major roads may have to play the waiting game when it comes to snow removal.

City street division manager Tom Orzulak said crews started plowing around 10 a.m. Tuesday and were hitting main streets first — Kasold Drive, Sixth Street, Iowa Street and 23d Street. Collector streets, such as North Iowa Street and Peterson Road, would be next in line.

Residential streets are last on the list.

“It’s snowing. It’s a big city. You can’t get all the streets all at one time,” Orzulak said. “It takes some time to get them done.”

The city has 4,000 tons of salt and 3,500 tons of mixed material. Orzulak is confident they won’t run out.

“We’re in great shape,” he said. “We have plenty of material.”

Orzulak said the crew is also preparing for the bad weather to continue.

“They’ll be somebody here probably all week,” he said. “We’ll be round the clock until it’s done.”

Chain reaction

At least five people were injured in a pileup Tuesday morning on the Kansas Turnpike. A total of 15 vehicles were involved in a chain reaction of crashes, which occurred about 9 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70, about three miles west of Lecompton, authorities said. Three different groups of accidents included two semi trucks, said Lisa Callahan, Kansas Turnpike Authority spokeswoman.

One driver involved in the crash on the turnpike said whiteout conditions and a salt truck were to blame. Ted Bergkamp, of Mount Hope, said cars were trying to avoid the large truck.

“Everybody ended up swerving … to miss it,” he said. “Once one car started spinning and hit another, it was just a chain reaction.”

Lawrence Memorial Hospital treated five patients from the accidents. A spokeswoman said one was transferred to Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., with serious injuries. The others were treated and released.

Callahan said it took at least five hours to clean up the accident, which backed up eastbound traffic for a mile at times.

Low visibility and snow-packed roadways were also blamed for several other crashes in Kansas on Tuesday.

Officials with Douglas County, the KTA and the Kansas Department of Transportation all said they would have crews working throughout Tuesday night, both spreading salt on roads and scraping away as much packed snow and ice as they can.

Kim Qualls, a KDOT spokeswoman, urged patience — both in driving and in waiting for roads to be completely clear.

“You’ve got to be careful,” she said. “We will be treating as much as possible, but right now, with the salt, it’s just too cold for it to be as effective as it can be.”

One other word of safety advice, from the turnpike’s Callahan: “Don’t pass a snowplow. You can, but what’s in front? Snow. Stay behind, where it’s cleared.”

Lawrence police responded to 17 accidents in the city Tuesday. A police spokeswoman said no one was injured in the crashes. Emergency dispatchers said officers a few more noninjury accidents into Tuesday evening, but things had slowed down considerably from earlier in the day.

LMH also treated one patient for a hip fracture from falling on ice and was prepared to see more activity overnight.

Weather and transportation officials Tuesday evening warned of freezing fog before 9 a.m. today for the morning commute. The National Weather Service forecasts a high temperature of only 23 degrees today with mostly cloudy skies before freezing rain and rain hit the area Thursday, when the high is predicted to be 40.

Let it snow

Some Lawrence residents — including 82-year-old Wayne Mercer — actually enjoyed being outside Tuesday morning.

“It’s good. I love it, really,” Mercer said about his push snow machine. “I used to scoop this all by hand.”

The snow blower cuts down immensely on the time spent cleaning his sidewalk at Seventh and Ohio streets. “It won’t take me very long – not when you have a snow blower,” he said.

Just down the street, Conner and Carson Marsh were shoveling the old-fashioned way. Conner, 5, said shoveling is his favorite thing about snow. He and his brother, 4, both adopted from Siberia two years ago, wanted to help their neighbors before building a snowman.

And dozens of KU students found ways to get around their grueling finals schedule and enjoy the snowfall. Hills on campus were full of students riding cafeteria trays, newly bought saucers and even an air mattress or two.

“There’s snow on the ground so it’s basically nature’s way of telling me I need a study break,” said Andrew Whittle, a freshman from Wisconsin.

Sledding partner Erik Radowski didn’t have to think twice about the idea.

“I got a text saying, ‘We are going sledding,’ so I said, OK, I can go.”

— Reporters Mark Boyle, Mark Fagan and George Diepenbrock contributed to this report.