DENVER — AAA estimates that more than 60 million people will travel by car this week. That means 60 million people have the opportunity to zipper merge.
In the state of Maine, the signs are more obvious than “Right Lane Ends.”
“We call ours an 'alternate merge' and we only use it in select locations to get better lane utilization usually coming out of a traffic signal,” Maine Department of Transportation traffic engineer Stephen Landry said.
Maine has promoted the “alternate merge” for 10 years.
The sign shows left and right lanes merging into one middle lane.
“We don’t use it every place because it really needs to be constructed,” Landry said. “You can’t have a normal right-hand lane drop and call it an alternate merge. People don’t do it.”
That was obvious on Thursday at Hampden Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
The third lane ends after the traffic signal for drivers traveling eastbound on Hampden Avenue.
A sign says, “Right Lane Ends – 650 Feet.”
Even with little traffic, there was a point where 16 cars waited at the stoplight in the second lane that did not end, while only two waited in the right lane that ended after the stoplight.
“We’ve had some problems with right-hand lane drops where people run people off the road,” Landry said. “It’s all about being polite and getting people to work with one another on the roadway.”
Next with Kyle Clark viewers David Spector and Debby Rehn shared photos of “Alternate Merge” signs from recent trips to Maine.
“We take advantage of a curve in the road to end some of these locations because that curve makes it so the right-hand side and the left-hand side are coming in together,” Landry said. “If you do it right, it’s going to work. If you do it wrong, you might have a failure on your hand.”
Where do you want Next to encourage the next zipper merge?
Email next@9news.com and provide a location where a lane ends that would provide a zipper merge opportunity.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Next with Kyle Clark