Ending of Climbing Lanes

[Bitmapped]

I'm not sure if this is a West Virginia-specific thing, but the climbing lanes on I-68 and I-79 tend to end short of the top of the hill they are built for. Is this common in other states? (It doesn't seem to be in the surrounding states I'm most familiar with.)

This configuration tends to cause delays as slow-moving traffic still has to merge back in at the top of the hill. I'm scratching my head about why (other than cost) lanes would have been built this way rather than continuing them over the top of the hill to allow trucks to gain some speed coming downhill prior to merging back in.

[froggie]

I wouldn't say it's not common, but it's not unheard of either.  US 211 VA comes to mind (specifically Massanutten Mtn).  I think we have a couple here in Vermont but the bigger problem we have is the LACK of climbing lanes, especially on steeper/longer climbs away from the spine of the Green Mountains.

[jmacswimmer]

There's a couple spots in Pennsylvania where rather than the climbing lane ending, the leftmost lane ends which removes the whole slow-truck-merging-back-in problem, and I'm a fan of this approach.  Here's one example each from PTC & PennDOT:

-The westbound PA Turnpike, which has a climbing lane form on the right for the ascent to the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel, then has the left lane end just prior to the tunnel entrance.
-I-81 just north of the I-80 interchange, rather than adding a climbing lane on the right, has an "additional passing lane" (for lack of a better term) form on the left, which then ends past the summit.

Additionally: this might just be a Maryland thing, but I've noticed when driving west on I-70 & I-68 (which usually have their climbing lanes end exactly at the summit or slightly beyond) that sometimes trucks will begin trying to merge over as soon as they see the first "LANE ENDS [insert distance]" sign, rather than waiting until the peak and at least gaining back a little speed.