Zipper Merge

Everyone who's lived in Minnesota for any length of time knows that the state has two seasons: winter and road construction.  Both seem to last longer than they should, and both make driving pretty miserable.

Road construction makes trips to the lake a game of Russian Roulette.  Technology has made this game a little more predictable, but you still take a risk of getting stuck in traffic you don't expect.  Driving home today, Stacy and I were presented with two main options, neither of which seemed pleasant, but one looked like it had just a few minutes of delay at the point where construction started.  We chose this option.

Hwy 10, through Anoka, is down to one lane for a handful of miles.  Once you get down to one lane, though, traffic moves pretty well.  There are signs that warn you of the lane closure, but there are also signs that advise you to continue in the lane until it ends.

This concept is called the zipper merge.  It is widely publicized by MNDOT.  You can read about it here: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/

I wish that the driver of a late 2000s Chevy Suburban heeded this advice.

When I approached the point of merge, the cars in front of me behaved like they should.  It's as if they all passed kindergarten; they took turns.  One car from the right, then one from the left.  Everyone had to wait just a second, but everyone got on their way.  Then it was my turn.  The Suburban in the right lane (the lane that continued) hugged the bumper of the car in front of him.  I had my blinker on, and I figured he would yield.  I was wrong.  He almost ran me (and Stacy, Delilah and Grayson) off the road.

I honked hoping it would do something.  It didn't.  I was left to live with my frustration and disgust.  What can you do?

Then Pandora played the ukulele version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, as if it knew I needed to calm down.

We made it safely home.

I can only hope the owner of that Suburban reads this post...