Despite heavy traffic, several arrests and a natural gas leak near the west residence halls, NIU survived another Wednesday before classes begin—the traditional move-in day.

As if the day isn’t hectic enough, construction on West Lincoln Highway and a gas leak that closed the intersection of Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Avenue being for several hours added to the confusion this year. Also, state troopers were also patrolling Illinois Rt. 88, checking vehicles for valid insurance, and stopping numerous drivers for toll evasion and speeding.

“In spite of construction and the gas leak, everything went very smoothly,” said Donald Buckner, NIU associate vice president for student affairs, who also works with the residence halls.

Students were able to move into the residence halls beginning at 9 a.m., but NI Guide Marlisa Weber said students and their parents were lined up at 7:30 a.m., waiting to unpack their cars.

The Gridlock committee, which consists of members of the University Police, student housing service, the physical plant, and the new student welcome days committee, planned an alternative route for students to follow and bypass the construction.

Those who took it, like transfer student and special education major Wendy Riedel, said the route worked well. “We took it and got right here – there was no one on it. We thought it was going to be a madhouse,” Reidel said.

Students who decided to take the regular route to the residence halls also said that traffic problems were minimal. “Traffic was better than I expected,” said Mark Mar-Yohana, a freshman majoring in engineering.

Mar-Yohana noticed the abundance of state troopers as he approached NIU, but said that he was not stopped. The police were busy, however, as they issued 68 tollway evasion tickets, 72 speeding tickets and 12 car insurance violations on Wednesday.

But moving violations weren’t the only things clogging traffic. After the gas leak was discovered near the Chick Evans Fieldhouse at about 1 p.m., the UPs had to quickly plan another alternative route for traffic as two blocks of Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Avenue were blocked for the next several hours.

Students and their parents who came in the afternoon for move-in complained at first that traffic had become congested, but once the new route took effect, traffic problems smoothed out, said UP Capt. James Webster.

“It was an abrupt rerouting, but we managed to handle it really well,” Webster said.

There was talk of evacuating the entire west campus (which includes the residence halls) when the gas leak first happened, he said. However, the halls were not evacuated, which included all buildings on the first block of Lucinda Avenue, such as the Chick Evans Field House.