How Mild Winter Weather Is Helping Delaware Valley Road Crews, Local Governments To Save Money
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- The question on the minds of many is what happened to winter? The hearts of many across the region were warmed after yet another day of unseasonable weather on Wednesday, and the warmth is helping out road crews and the bottom line across the Delaware Valley.
Winter and road maintenance don't always get along, but this year, things are a little different.
The lack of snow this winter has greatly reduced the wear and tear on road surfaces caused by freezing and thawing -- let alone salting and plowing.
Instead, all the warm days have allowed road crews to fix cracks and potholes sooner than later.
While you may miss the snow this year, local and state governments are quite OK without the winter wonderland.
"Well, it has a very positive effort on our budget," Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli said.
From New Jersey to Pennsylvania, the budget numbers are looking good.
With just a month of winter left, PennDOT says it's only used about 40% of its winter maintenance cash in the greater Philadelphia region and 14% of its salt supply.
Camden County says it's saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"By spending less money on salt, over time equipment, things of that nature. It also gives us the ability to work on projects that typically would have to wait until the spring," Cappelli said.
Like getting a jumpstart on tree maintenance.
In Haddonfield, Camden County, Public Works crews took down a large dead tree that might have been a danger during a spring or summer thunderstorm.
Mild winter weather means they can be proactive.
"It gives us a lot more time to do tree work," Camden County tree maintenance worker Dan Nowakowski said. "When it snows, it's all hands on deck, so everybody is driving a salt truck or pushing with the plow and not having any snow frees us up to do a lot more projects."
This winter may be short on snow, but not on irony. Right after CBS3 spoke with Camden County officials, they said they're issuing a Code Blue on Wednesday night because the temperatures are tumbling.
