Summer Travel Alert: Minnesota Trooper Shares Advice

Summer travel season is here, meaning many of us will be spending a lot of time on the road. Road trips are the most popular type of summer vacation. Here in Minnesota, popular destinations include Valleyfair, Target Field for Twins games, and "up north" to enjoy our favorite lakes.

Road trips are fun, but they often come with frustrations, including people not using turn signals, slow left-lane drivers, and distracted drivers. The summer travel season is also road construction season, which means frequent delays.

Get our free mobile app

The State Patrol works hard to make our highways safe and Minnesota troopers are currently cracking down on speeding. And today, one trooper is reminding people about the "late merge" technique to reduce congestion and road rage.

What Is The Late Merge?

Sgt. Troy Christianson of the Minnesota State Patrol explains that the "late merge" is a "driving strategy that requires drivers to change their mindset about merging. Traditionally, drivers have been taught to merge early when a lane is ending. Early merging leads to longer backups, more crashes and road rage incidents."

How to Zipper Merge in Minnesota

Christianson explained the zipper merge in three simple steps:

1. Upon seeing the “lane closed ahead” sign and encountering backed-up traffic, remain in your current lane until the designated merge point.
2. At the merge point, alternate with other drivers to merge smoothly and safely into the open lane.
3. In heavy, slow-moving traffic, it is safer to stay in your lane until the merge point, allowing for an orderly alternating merge.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation explains: "when a lane is closed in a construction zone, a zipper merge occurs when motorists use both lanes of traffic until reaching the defined merge area, and then alternate in "zipper" fashion into the open lane."

Christianson said the zipper merge can reduce congestion and the length of traffic backups by as much as 40%. And, prevent road rage!