Zipper merge: The best way to keep traffic moving | VERIFY

Sick of traffic backups? NCDOT says if drivers would properly use zipper merging, lane closures would be a relative breeze. Last week, a WCNC Charlotte viewer reached out saying some drivers always wait until the last second to merge when their lane is ending. Turns out, that's how your supposed to do it, according to NCDOT.

So why is the zipper merge the most effective way to merge in traffic? VERIFY reporter Meghan Bragg went to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to find out why. Here's what they told us when it comes to cutting down on merging and traffic backup times in the Charlotte area. #WakeUpCLT #verify

WHAT WE FOUND
We all know merging can be a pain, but in some cases, It's actually best to wait until your lane ends to merge.

"They put that pavement there for a reason," Vaughan said. "They want you to drive on it."

[twistedscissors]

Only if this worked in real life and if people were COURTEOUS in allowing people into the single lane!!!

[jasonbrannen]

Note that they don't have video of the zipper merge in action working...they only have a computer animation, which for numerous reasons, is incorrect. And why do we see an animation and no video of zipper merge working? Because it doesn't.

[adonai]

Merging and exit lanes need to be longer…to many are way to short. This slow down speeds backing up traffic

[williamfriar]

100% of motorists who advocate for the zipper are also the ones who insist on getting into the lane that’s closing.

This isn’t a mere coincidence.

[elwakka]

So this has already been debunked, in theory it should work, but in practice it doesn't. See New Mexico vs Texas.

Most zipper merge videos are just "animations" of it working... (see your video).

[MM-sqpf]

A few pebble brains in my area are uneducated on the subject of zipper merging. I guess they think their city road dept wanted to make a quarter mile of street for nothing. My favorites are the stick out halfway-ers, they stick their car halfway on the other lane, I guess to annoy the people driving to the merge in the lane ending. Hilarious

[johnwick-iiil]

The obstruction to flow comes well AFTER the merge point. And only so many cars can pass thru it at a given time. REGARDLESS of how they merged before they they got there.
The zipper just turns one long line into two shorter ones that may not block ramps etc. But it does not decrease wait / drive times.. The thousand cars in front of you are still there...only now they are in two lanes instead of one. And the merging action point causes delays that would not exist otherwise.
There is also driver that dart back and forth from lane to lane just trying to get a few cars ahead. So when they finally get ahead of you, then you get to wait longer. The zipper is not faster, if anything it is slower.

[GumbyJumpOff]

For the love of God
Learn the zipper merge

..says the one bumper sticker I have on my car. Let me know if you want one, I have 4 more left. :]

Also, they need to stop putting the sign for a lane closed ahead literally 2 miles away. That's what gets people doing the wrong thing. Put the sign half a mile or less before the closure.

[williamfriar]

Implementation of the zipper merge was recommended by safety engineers who were trying to find a way to slow traffic down in construction zones. It’s a very effective traffic impeding device.

[dece]

A zipper type merging would work if each vehicle let the other vehicle in, so each vehicle getting over behind the next vehicle, and next vehicle getting behind that vehicle.

The reason it doesn't work is not because there's something wrong with this method, what's wrong is people unable to be rational, and too full of pride. If people actually managed to do it, then the lanes would never stop moving, it is the not letting people in that creates the unnecessary forced full stops.

So what if others are trying to get in front? They're jerks, right? We'll, you know what? If you don't let them in, then you're just as bad as them, because you are now actively part of what causes the merges to completely stop moving, so you're literally an accomplice to the problem, you're now screwing everyone behind you just as much as the people trying to "cut", so congratulations, you are just as much of an jerk!


Too much pride makes you angry, and anger tends to make people irrational. I think it's incredible that people never see this/figure this out!

[sheremencherewka]

It doesn't. Basic common sense shows it doesn't work.

[eatshiy]

It's basically "cutting in line"!😖

[xdinteractive]

IT IS ALSO CUTTING PEOPLE OFF WHICH IS UNSAFE MOVEMENT IN VIOLATION OF NC LAW