In Minnesota, there's winter and road construction, right? And seeing as we're knee deep in the construction season right now, here's another reminder to learn to do the Zipper Merge in construction zones!

If you're not aware, the Zipper Merge is the method of moving traffic through a construction zone the fastest. It's officially endorsed by MnDOT, and has been for, oh, at least five years now.

The Zipper Merge means when you see the Contruction/Merge Ahead signs, you should still BOTH LANES until you see the Begin Merge signs. Then, each lane takes turns merging into the single lane.

But, most Minnesotans -- thanks to that whole 'Minnesota Nice' thing, I'm guessing -- don't want to use the lane that's going to be closed up ahead, and end up merging way too early into the other lane. Which, of course, creates a HUGE back-up. Minnesotans don't want to be seen as the jerk who thinks they can go around everyone else, apparently.

But all that does is make the back-up even bigger. The Zipper Merge only works when EVERYBODY does it-- so the one or two cars who are correctly still using what will be the closed land don't stand out, and attract the ire of all those other drivers not smart enough to stay in that lane and finally merge when the sign tells you to.

So, do you me a solid, will you? DO THE ZIPPER MERGE!  Here's MnDOT video that explains it even better...

 

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