The snow leaves its mark on mid-Michigan Monday, and the Michigan Department of Transportation says it's a mark that may stick around longer than it did last year.

"During certain hours after a snow event, motorists on some of the less traveled routes, or M routes, like M-43, might actually see a little more ice or slush and snow out on the roadways than they have in years past and that's simply a way for us to help reduce costs," said MDOT spokeswoman Kari Arend.

MDOT says they went $4 million over their $6 million budget last year and this year they're trying to cut corners where they can.

"The rising cost of salt, rising cost of diesel fuel, a lot of those costs are adding up for us so we just want to be prudent with the amount, this new policy is simply a way to reduce overtime if we don't need to be having crews out there on the roadways using up resources like salt and fuel, so it's just simply a way to better manage our budget," Arend said.

So MDOT has designated Priority 1 orange routes on state highways and Interstate like I-96, that will be plowed and salted during and after snowfall on overtime if necessary, but blue routes, like M-43, are Priority 2.

"On those blue routes, if the snow event has passed, the snow has stopped falling, crews are getting into an overtime situation, what motorists may see and where those crews can leave those roads is generally to have one wheel track clear in each direction, so as long as the routes are in that type of condition, crews that are on an overtime situation can go home," Arend said.

But it's not just state highways, road commission officials say county and local roads in Townships may also see a difference in their snow removal service.

"Big storms on local roads, maybe some subdivision streets; we're going to try to do less plowing on evening overtime, so if there is a big storm, other than getting the roads passable and safe, we may do final cleanup of shoulders and very low volume side roads the next day," said Bill Conklin of the Ingham County Road Commission.

The road commission will also sprinkle its sand/salt mix more frequently.

"Rather than salt being our first choice we're going to be thinking of more ways and places we can use the sand up to 50 percent to stretch that salt," Conklin said.