DPW sticking to winter budget, so far..

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - A lot of us are thankful we aren't having a winter like two years ago, when we had to rake snow off rooftops to keep them from collapsing.

Right now there's no problem driving the roads around western Massachusetts, but that hasn't been the case all winter.

Snow and ice made for slippery roads which your departments of public works have to keep clear.

"They’re right on it. Holyoke especially, they do a real good job cleaning up real quick," said Sal Polizzi of Holyoke.

"It's been slippery on the storm, but other than that it's been dry enough," said David Rooney of Greenfield.

All the plowing, salting and sanding does come at a cost. Two years ago, during the winter of 2010-2011, the city of Chicopee spent over a million dollars clearing the roads.

$600,000 is what it normally costs the Chicopee department of public works to clear snow and ice in the winter. This winter they've spent half of that, but February is normally their most expensive month.

This season, the toughest winter storm that Chicopee had to deal with was the snow to sleet and freezing rain we had last week.

But the most expensive storms come from heavy snow, when they have to call in extra help.

"We only have a certain amount of plows, we have fifty two hire plows that come in for the larger storm events and that's where we're really spending most of our money," said Steven Frederick, acting Superintendent of the Chicopee Department of Public Works.

Frederick told 22News that he hasn't noticed much of a pothole problem so far, but says February and March are pothole and mud season here in western Massachusetts.