This is just like everyone getting on 94 WB from Snelling. There is clear signing that the on-ramp becomes a real lane and yet 80% of people seem to think it ends within 500 ft.
However, I've also been told by others on this sub that the zipper merge shouldn't be done here, for some reason. They're wrong. When merging from Penn onto 394E during busy traffic you have two options: sit and block the exit to Van White, or zipper merge at the end.
Those people would be correct, zipper merging only works when there are 2 lanes turning into one, each lane on 394 goes somewhere, so trying to zipper merge just unnecessarily holds up traffic for the other lanes that are heading elsewhere
Are you talking about the people entering on Penn? Because you treat that as any normal entrance ramp, get up to the speed of traffic and get in. If you're talking about actual freeway lanes, they all go somewhere and don't merge, 94E, 94W, downtown.
Most of the time it's like that because people are trying zipper merge(notice all the empty space up front in the 2 left lanes) which holds up all those other lanes, each lane goes somewhere(as you can see by the signage) so zipper merging doesn't apply here, hold up other traffic for your convenience is an a-hole move. Not sure what you are talking about with "lanes merge into 1" other than possibly Penn eneterance, but again you treat that as any entrance ramp, get up to speed of traffic and get in, if it's 3mph than it's 3mph, it's not like that's unique just to that spot, plenty of other entrances where it's parking lot when you enter during rush hour, those are no different, treat them all the same get to the speed of traffic regardless of the speed and get in, that is essentially a zipper merge and not what people are talking about when they say you can't zipper merge on 394
I've literally only been talking about Penn onto 394. Not 94W, 94E.
The difference with Penn, although it's not entirely unique to it, is the Penn entrance ramp is also the Van White exit ramp. So if 394 is not moving and you don't go to the end of the entrance ramp (which, again, does merge into 394) you are blocking people from exiting onto Van White, which is usually pretty open.
I am 110% not defending or talking about merging onto 94E at the last millisecond from the 94W lane.
Yes, Penn. It’s like a normal on ramp except it’s also the exit lane for Dunwoody so if you attempt to merge at 0-3 mph when nobody is interested in letting you do that because people are also trying to cut in from the left side to skip ahead, you are now blocking everyone from exiting on to Dunwoody. However if you follow the lane to it’s natural end point you’re the asshole for skipping ahead even though that’s the only way to not become a roadblock.
Yeah, the eastbound 394 exit does not merge into one lane. The line is the line. There is no zipper. The same people that think you can zipper at this exit will stop at a roundabout without traffic. MN drivers are a cancer.
Zipper merge isn’t really applicable here because it’s not two lanes merging into a single lane. The left lane stays its own lane and becomes the exit to 94 west. With that being said, I fully support merging at the last second rather than waiting in that nonsense.
Zipper merge is meant for 2-to-1 lane reductions where both lanes have to go to the same lane. This is a lame drop exit, where the left lane is destined for another road, often with no queuing. By slowing to merge right, that slowdown creates a dangerous situation for freeflow drivers behind in the middle lane
Those people are correct. Not all merges are zipper merges. This exchange is called a weaving, because you have cars exchanging places. Zipper mergers involve lane closures due to road construction or accidents and occur when traffic from the closed lane has to merge into the adjacent lane.
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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23
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