People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles.” That was how Bret Easton Ellis began his first novel, “Less Than Zero,” 34 years ago. It was not much of a book, but the observation seems no less true today in Durango – although, we are not convinced the issue is fear exactly.
We had occasion to think about this recently as we were stuck in traffic waiting for drivers to merge from two lanes to one for work on the high bridge on South Camino del Rio.
Long before the right lane ends in both directions, there are signs saying to use both lanes and then to take turns at the merge point.
This is the zipper concept. It is simple and is backed up by decades of traffic studies. The Colorado Department of Transportation even produced a short video to explain it, in 2016; other states have done the same.
And it still does not work. At least, not initially. Instead, more than half a mile before the merge point, drivers see the sign saying the right lane ends and they move over to the left lane, which is stalled, while the right is clear sailing. Then it takes everyone five or 10 minutes longer to get where they’re going.
Why? We have a theory.
Knowing they will have to merge ahead, people want to get in line in the left lane and sit rather than take a chance on someone else in the left lane letting them in at the merge point. Either we do not trust other motorists to do the right thing and let us in, or we think the motorists in the right lane are trying to get away with something.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane on the bridge for the rest of the year, so we have two more months to build trust or be stuck. We are already seeing encouraging signs over the last several weeks. Just the other day, we traveled at a steady 35 mph in the right lane almost to the merge point and seamlessly zipped into the left. And no one honked.
