People Who Don’t Know How to Zipper Merge are Making Construction Traffic Worse

Alright… we’ve gotta have a little heart-to-heart about zipper merging. Because every Minnesota construction season, this turns into a big problem.

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You’re sitting there in traffic, doing what you think is the right thing. You saw the “lane closed ahead” sign; you merged early like a good human, and now you’re inching along. Then someone flies past you in the open lane all the way to the front.

And your immediate reaction is “Oh no you don’t!”

But here’s the part nobody likes to hear. That driver is actually doing it right!

Sgt. Troy Christiansen with the Minnesota State Patrol just broke this down again in his most recent Ask a Trooper column, and if you haven’t had this explained to you, give it a quick read; it makes perfect sense once you stop fighting it.

The Zipper Merge Explained and How to Do it Properly

The whole point of a zipper merge is to use both lanes fully until the merge point instead of merging early, forming a long line a mile back. You stay in your lane, go all the way up, and then take turns merging, one car from each lane at a time, like a zipper.

That’s it. It’s that simple.

And when traffic is heavy and slow, that method actually works better in pretty much every way. It reduces backups, makes lane changes safer, and evens out speeds.

Sgt Christiansen says they’ve found zipper merging can shorten traffic backups by up to 40 percent, and even cuts down on road rage (as long as everyone understands the concept).

When everyone piles into one lane too early, you’re basically wasting an entire lane of road for no reason while creating a longer line behind you.

But here’s where it all falls apart…

We’ve been wired our whole lives to think merging early is polite. It feels right. So when someone uses the open lane like they’re supposed to, it feels like they’re cutting.

Now you’ve got half the drivers trying to zipper merge, and the other half playing traffic cop… blocking lanes, closing gaps, and cursing at people under their breath.

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The zipper merge only works when we all agree to play the same game.

So next time you see someone go all the way to the front, it might look like they’re skipping the line. But in reality, they’re following the system that’s designed to keep traffic moving.

This isn’t new. MnDOT put out a how-to video on zipper merging 14 YEARS AGO… so by now, we should all know how it works.