Do You Do The ‘Zipper Merge’? You Should!

Now that our spring seems to FINALLY be here, I'd like to point out an important reminder when it comes to driving along Minnesota's highways and byways during this road construction season: Don't forget to do the Zipper Merge!

The Zipper Merge is the method the Minnesota Department of Transportation says we should use when we come upon lane closures due to road construction. Instead of moving over when you first see the 'road construction ahead' signs, you stay in the lane that is closed ahead all the way until you see the 'begin merge' signs, then take turns merging into the other lane, like a zipper.

This method, if everybody uses it correctly, prevents all those slow downs when everybody moves into one lane. However, if you're the only one using it-- and driving along in the lane that's closed ahead, as you are instructed to do with the Zipper Merge-- other cars get irate with you when they see you trying to merge into 'their' lane at the last minute.

This happened to my wife and I as we were on Highway-52, about a few miles south of Rosemount, on our way back to Rochester last night. The right lane was closed up ahead, and EVERYBODY started merging over into the left lane as soon as they saw the 'lane closed ahead' sign.

I, of course, continued on in the right lane, passing by all those other cars (as the Zipper Merge method tells you to do), only to have a guy in a white pickup tell us we were number-one (using a different finger!) when I tried to merge.

So, take heed, fellow Minnesotans-- do the Zipper Merge! It makes life better for all of us!