How does zipper merge apply in this scenario....(New commute video)

[MisterSG1]

It is discussed here that zipper merging is how things should be done to optimize flow. However, what do you do involving heavy traffic in this kind of situation, when should the person merge, this was taken on April 18 at around 7 in the morning:

At 1:50 in the video you see me enter the 427 in very heavy traffic, this acceleration lane also doubles as an exit lane for Hwy 407 WB, so in this kind of hybrid entrance/exit lane, when should I merge over, as you can see I did it early because I didn't want to create trouble behind me, but at the same time, I'm sure there were those that fly by in that exit lane merging onto the 427 at the very last second, what is the proper thing to do here.

This video for your information is of the drive from Brampton to Wilson TTC station, we use Highway 427, Highway 409, and Highway 401 in this video.....on Hwy 409, there is an incredible backup despite there being no incident on any nearby routes. The whole trip to the subway station took 80 minutes....in all that time using the 409, I could have probably drove all the way downtown quicker, but that's how things go.

[jeffandnicole]

Auxiliary lanes are tricky, because there isn't a defined point where to merge in.  In your case, you started to merge in and stopped because of heavy traffic (it's a bit hard to figure out exactly how fast it was moving because of the speed of the video).  Mostly, I suggest merging in at a point where you can fully merge in without blocking traffic.  In your case, you merged part of the way in early on, effectively blocking the auxiliary lane to the point people had to go around you on the shoulder.  That leaves you open for getting rear ended by faster traffic.  In many cases, people do a 'soft' merge rather than pull themselves fully into the lane, leaving them in this venerable position.

[MisterSG1]

Auxiliary lanes are tricky, because there isn't a defined point where to merge in.  In your case, you started to merge in and stopped because of heavy traffic (it's a bit hard to figure out exactly how fast it was moving because of the speed of the video).  Mostly, I suggest merging in at a point where you can fully merge in without blocking traffic.  In your case, you merged part of the way in early on, effectively blocking the auxiliary lane to the point people had to go around you on the shoulder.  That leaves you open for getting rear ended by faster traffic.  In many cases, people do a 'soft' merge rather than pull themselves fully into the lane, leaving them in this venerable position.

The entrance ramp in the video was stop and go, as was the mainline of ON-427. I don't think I did anything wrong because traffic was very heavy at this point anyways.

In the video there was practically no point where I could safely fully merge without blocking the acceleration lane/exit lane to Hwy 407 ETR WB. I didn't want to be a situation where I was "pushed" onto the 407 because it's impossible for me to move over.

Being pushed off onto a normal exit is annoying, but there are consequences if you accidentally go onto Hwy 407, as I did not have a transponder in the vehicle, and that push off could have costed $10 in the mail with all the toll charges the 407 uses.

[Ned Weasel]

The zipper merge doesn't (or shouldn't) apply to auxiliary lanes.  It should only apply to lanes that terminate via a taper, rather than lanes that are dropped as exits.  In fact, in the section on early- versus late-merging in the well known book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), when discussing the benefits of late-merging, the author notes, "This does not apply to people 'late-merging' their way to the head of queues at off-ramps and the like, as those late mergers may temporarily block an otherwise free-flowing lane of traffic, not to mention greatly irritating those already queued" (Vanderbilt 48).

Because the zipper merge primarily applies to tapered lane terminations, for the sake of good highway design, when a long-running lane needs to be terminated at some point, it should be terminated via a taper, rather than being dropped at an exit, unless a significant portion of the mainline's traffic is actually exiting at the exit where the lane would be dropped.

Unfortunately, short auxiliary lanes do exist in the field, and, as jeffandnicole already mentioned, there isn't necessarily a prescribed point at which to merge.  As with most driving situations, the best rule is to be alert and patient in these situations (and be even more patient in hoping for the DOT to replace the short auxiliary lane with a better design, such as braided ramps, flyovers, etc.).

Work Cited:

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.

[kalvado]

Work Cited:

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.

And.. Why should we have any trust to the scribes of a writer, who is apparently ashamed to reveal his technical education background, but proudly mentions being an author of  The Sneaker Book (The New Press, 1998), a cultural history of the athletic shoe
My feeling is that people like that are the root cause of many many different problems. Including traffic.

[Ned Weasel]

Work Cited:

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print.

And.. Why should we have any trust to the scribes of a writer, who is apparently ashamed to reveal his technical education background, but proudly mentions being an author of  The Sneaker Book (The New Press, 1998), a cultural history of the athletic shoe
My feeling is that people like that are the root cause of many many different problems. Including traffic.

If you actually care, feel free to check any of the sources he cites in the book.  But please spare us any ad hominem arguments.

[kalvado]

If you actually care, feel free to check any of the sources he cites in the book.  But please spare us any ad hominem arguments.

Would you please direct me to the page within the book containing the references you mentioned? I do see a very unorganized "notes" section, containing anything from NYT references to some incoherent mumbling. If said section is the one you believe to contain required information, would you please direct me towards the reference to some mathematical model within the said book which leads to author's conclusions?

[vdeane]

In stop and go situations, the "go" phase might not be long enough to merge all the way without having to stop in the middle.  I've definitely had that happen to me.

[Ned Weasel]

If you actually care, feel free to check any of the sources he cites in the book.  But please spare us any ad hominem arguments.

Would you please direct me to the page within the book containing the references you mentioned? I do see a very unorganized "notes" section, containing anything from NYT references to some incoherent mumbling. If said section is the one you believe to contain required information, would you please direct me towards the reference to some mathematical model within the said book which leads to author's conclusions?

The sources listed on page 307 include: Understanding Road Rage: Implementation Plan for Promising Mitigation Measures by Carol H. Walters and Scott A. Cooner (this uses quantitative data, but I am not sure if it is available free of charge); "Dynamic Late Merge Control Concept for Work Zones on Rural Freeways" by Patrick T. McCoy and Geza Pesti (available at: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/workshops/accessible/McCoy.htm ); and Evaluation of Late Merge Work Zone Traffic Control Strategy by Andrew G. Beacher, Michael D. Fontaine, and Nicholas J. Garber (available at: http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/05-r6.pdf ).

[kalvado]

If you actually care, feel free to check any of the sources he cites in the book.  But please spare us any ad hominem arguments.

Would you please direct me to the page within the book containing the references you mentioned? I do see a very unorganized "notes" section, containing anything from NYT references to some incoherent mumbling. If said section is the one you believe to contain required information, would you please direct me towards the reference to some mathematical model within the said book which leads to author's conclusions?

The sources listed on page 307 include: Understanding Road Rage: Implementation Plan for Promising Mitigation Measures by Carol H. Walters and Scott A. Cooner (this uses quantitative data, but I am not sure if it is available free of charge); "Dynamic Late Merge Control Concept for Work Zones on Rural Freeways" by Patrick T. McCoy and Geza Pesti (available at: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/workshops/accessible/McCoy.htm ); and Evaluation of Late Merge Work Zone Traffic Control Strategy by Andrew G. Beacher, Michael D. Fontaine, and Nicholas J. Garber (available at: http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/05-r6.pdf ).

Thank you so much.
An interesting quote from the Virginia DOT document:
The authors conclude that the late merge should be considered for 3-to-1 lane closure configurations but not until a sound methodology for deployment has been developed and tested  in the field.  For the 2-to-1 and 3-to-2 configurations, the late merge should be implemented only when the percentage of heavy vehicles is at least 20 percent

So much for the concept of late merge for urban commuter traffic...

[jeffandnicole]

Auxiliary lanes are tricky, because there isn't a defined point where to merge in.  In your case, you started to merge in and stopped because of heavy traffic (it's a bit hard to figure out exactly how fast it was moving because of the speed of the video).  Mostly, I suggest merging in at a point where you can fully merge in without blocking traffic.  In your case, you merged part of the way in early on, effectively blocking the auxiliary lane to the point people had to go around you on the shoulder.  That leaves you open for getting rear ended by faster traffic.  In many cases, people do a 'soft' merge rather than pull themselves fully into the lane, leaving them in this venerable position.

The entrance ramp in the video was stop and go, as was the mainline of ON-427. I don't think I did anything wrong because traffic was very heavy at this point anyways.

In the video there was practically no point where I could safely fully merge without blocking the acceleration lane/exit lane to Hwy 407 ETR WB. I didn't want to be a situation where I was "pushed" onto the 407 because it's impossible for me to move over.

Being pushed off onto a normal exit is annoying, but there are consequences if you accidentally go onto Hwy 407, as I did not have a transponder in the vehicle, and that push off could have costed $10 in the mail with all the toll charges the 407 uses.

If we could see a clip of that merge at normal speed, it would be more telling as to what happened and how it could be avoided.

I don't see how anyone could be pushed into the 407.  If you got to the end of the aux lane, you would just stop and wait for a gap to merge in.  But then again, that leaves you blocking traffic trying to exit.  I think there was one car shown that crossed thru the gore area prior to merging in, which is a common, albeit illegal, merge technique.

[Ned Weasel]

Thank you so much.
An interesting quote from the Virginia DOT document:
The authors conclude that the late merge should be considered for 3-to-1 lane closure configurations but not until a sound methodology for deployment has been developed and tested  in the field.  For the 2-to-1 and 3-to-2 configurations, the late merge should be implemented only when the percentage of heavy vehicles is at least 20 percent

So much for the concept of late merge for urban commuter traffic...

You should also see "Evaluation of the 2004 Dynamic Late Merge System for the Minnesota Department of Transportation" by URS (available at : http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/workzone/doc/2004DLMS-Evaluation.pdf ), which is also cited on page 307 of the Tom Vanderbilt book.

[kalvado]

Thank you so much.
An interesting quote from the Virginia DOT document:
The authors conclude that the late merge should be considered for 3-to-1 lane closure configurations but not until a sound methodology for deployment has been developed and tested  in the field.  For the 2-to-1 and 3-to-2 configurations, the late merge should be implemented only when the percentage of heavy vehicles is at least 20 percent

So much for the concept of late merge for urban commuter traffic...

You should also see "Evaluation of the 2004 Dynamic Late Merge System for the Minnesota Department of Transportation" by URS (available at : http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/workzone/doc/2004DLMS-Evaluation.pdf ), which is also cited on page 307 of the Tom Vanderbilt book.

My point is somewhat different: At the very least I should see a meaningful discussion on advantages and disadvantages. But what I see is a series of statements ("you should merge late, as I do", "women cause more congestion than men", "One school of thinking... but isn't it obvious that late merge is better?") which makes me feel like author made his mind, based on his deep understanding of athletic shoe history...  Author is apparently not qualified to make an independent judgement, but he does.

[MisterSG1]

Auxiliary lanes are tricky, because there isn't a defined point where to merge in.  In your case, you started to merge in and stopped because of heavy traffic (it's a bit hard to figure out exactly how fast it was moving because of the speed of the video).  Mostly, I suggest merging in at a point where you can fully merge in without blocking traffic.  In your case, you merged part of the way in early on, effectively blocking the auxiliary lane to the point people had to go around you on the shoulder.  That leaves you open for getting rear ended by faster traffic.  In many cases, people do a 'soft' merge rather than pull themselves fully into the lane, leaving them in this venerable position.

The entrance ramp in the video was stop and go, as was the mainline of ON-427. I don't think I did anything wrong because traffic was very heavy at this point anyways.

In the video there was practically no point where I could safely fully merge without blocking the acceleration lane/exit lane to Hwy 407 ETR WB. I didn't want to be a situation where I was "pushed" onto the 407 because it's impossible for me to move over.

Being pushed off onto a normal exit is annoying, but there are consequences if you accidentally go onto Hwy 407, as I did not have a transponder in the vehicle, and that push off could have costed $10 in the mail with all the toll charges the 407 uses.

If we could see a clip of that merge at normal speed, it would be more telling as to what happened and how it could be avoided.

I don't see how anyone could be pushed into the 407.  If you got to the end of the aux lane, you would just stop and wait for a gap to merge in.  But then again, that leaves you blocking traffic trying to exit.  I think there was one car shown that crossed thru the gore area prior to merging in, which is a common, albeit illegal, merge technique.

Well there you go, here's the clip of me entering from Hwy 7 in Vaughan until passing the exit for 407 WB.