CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The zipper merge may make a return to some West Virginia highway construction projects.
At least a form of it.
The state legislature asked state Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh about the status of the zipper merge.
Rumbaugh talked about it at the most recent legislative interim committee meetings.
“West Virginians have always done the early merge,” Rumbaugh told lawmakers earlier this month. “We have tried to do the zipper merge in the past. It doesn’t seem to work.”
Rumbaugh said when the DOH has tried to use the zipper merge drivers have reverted back to the early merge.
“Folks insist on getting into the early merge. The folks from out of state pull up down the other side and everybody gets ticked off and things go sideways,” Rumbaugh said.
Rumbaugh indicated the DOH may be willing to take another crack at it.
“One option is not to close either lane. It’s just to announce a merge and close them both at the same time to a lane right down the dead center and once you get them in the chute then you let them move on through the project,” Rumbaugh said. “We may look at trying that on some projects later this year.”
Rumbaugh told the lawmakers the zipper merge does work when used properly.
“It does get folks through faster. It keeps both lanes moving at a constant speed as long as folks alternate. Trying to educate the public becomes very hard with these,” Rumbaugh said.