Zipper merge pilot project launches Wednesday on Lagimodiere

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This article was published 09/06/2015 (4075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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They’re zipping and merging and traffic is moving — and Matt Allard is a happy man.

“Things seem to be working well — Winnipeggers are getting it,” Allard, the city councillor for St. Boniface, said after watching Winnipeg drivers get their first taste of the zipper-merge strategy for moving vehicles through the loss of lanes under construction.

“I was there for about half an hour — I only saw one situation where cars weren’t letting other cars in,” said Allard.

On Wednesday, the city introduced the system in the northbound lanes of Lagimodiere Boulevard, where there’s a construction project between Fermor Avenue and Dugald Road.

Zipper merging, which is widely used in Minnesota and Saskatoon, involves encouraging drivers to use both lanes until they reach a merge point. At that point, each driver takes turns in a zipper-like fashion merging into the open lane.

The city has posted a series of electronic signs in the area alerting drivers to use both lanes until they reach a certain point just ahead of the construction before merging. The signs look like this:

“People were getting it, because the signage was there. The culture might just change,” Allard said.

The city public works department will report to city council on how the Lagimodiere project goes, and it could lead to zipper merges becoming the standard on major roadways losing lanes to construction.

“My hope would be, if the report is positive and the public response is positive, we could endorse this for construction sites across the city,” said Allard.

“Zipper might be the beginning of a more collaborative approach to driving.”

-Matt Allard

The Canadian Automobile Association’s Manitoba branch is in favour of the zipper merge, said communications director Liz Kulyk.

“We definitely think there’s some potential in Winnipeg — we’re in support of the experiment,” Kulyk said.

Kulyk said when Winnipeg introduced traffic circles, there wasn’t enough education for drivers uncertain what to do; CAA is urging the city to educate drivers this time around, she said.

Winnipeg drivers should learn to merge with moving traffic when pulling onto a major high-speed roadway such as Bishop Grandin Boulevard, said Allard. He wants people to proceed to the merge point instead of stopping on the curve and anxiously looking over their shoulder for a break in traffic.

“Zipper might be the beginning of a more collaborative approach to driving,” predicted Allard.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca