INDIANAPOLIS - Drivers are dodging fewer potholes on Indiana roadways after the mild winter, which also has meant a break for street departments that aren't spending as much money as usual patching the craters that typically appear with winter's retreat.
Those budgets also are more flush than normal because less has been spent on overtime, fuel and salt to help clear snow and ice from the roads over the winter.
Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Harry Maginity said state crews haven't spent much time working on pothole repairs.
"We've had a few, but not anything like what we have when the temperature goes up and down, up and down, up and down," Maginity said.
The Indianapolis Department of Public Works crews charged with filling potholes have completed 2,622 service requests this year. That's down 62 percent from the same period in last year's season, when a crippling ice storm and frigid weather left many city streets pocked with hazards.
"The mild winter has allowed DPW crews to patch potholes during times they were unable to do so last year because the streets were covered with snow or the crews were fighting a snowstorm," Kara Brooks, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, told The Indianapolis Star.
Most of the city's $7.7 million budgeted for snow removal in 2012 remains unspent, but that still must cover snowstorms in November and December. Any savings, Brooks said, could be spent on construction projects, equipment or maintenance.
Carmel officials said the city's snow-removal expenses, such as overtime and salt, were about $360,000 less than last winter.
Even in normally hard-hit northern Indiana, winter was much milder. That means not only less money spent this year but also could lead to savings in the future.
Lake County Highway Supervisor Marcus Malczewski said the county's salt barns were full even before buying 3,000 more tons of road salt under a contract with the state Department of Transportation.
"I'll be happy to stockpile it," he told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville.
Maginity said the state has seen a fast start to its road construction season with the record warmth this month, and the agency's maintenance budget has plenty left over after winter.
"There is going to be some more money to work in other areas," such as road maintenance and ditch cleaning along highways during the spring and summer, he said.
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