Photo: Courtesy of Ohio Department of Transportation
(Cleveland) As orange barrels sprout up along our interstates and work begins in earnest on road construction projects that will certainly bring lane closures, the Ohio Department of Transportation is shedding some light on what the most effective way is to merge traffic. According to the experts, use both lanes until you can only use one. Drive right up to the end of the lane that is going to close, and then vehicles alternate merging into the lane that is open. ODOT says that's called the Zipper merge.
The agency says the Zipper merge actually shortens traffic back-ups by 40%, cuts congestion by fourteen minutes, and reduces the line of vehicles by a third of a mile. Of course, it takes both lanes of traffic to make it work. So, vehicles in the land that is not closed need to alternate allowing vehicles in the closed lane to merge in to traffic.
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