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07/27/2004: "Construction ahead? Please merge late."
I've been meaning to blog about a long time problem and a serious pet peave. I recall an article by The Detroit News' Tom Greenwood with which I strongly disagreed; I could not find a link. I did find a link supporting his contention that drivers should merge early. I also found a more recent link from him that supports my contention.
Neither linked article mentions an important point. (Another Tom Greenwood article included responses which mentioned this, link unfound.) Every lane of traffic can hold so many cars. It is reasonable to think that one mile of two lanes of traffic can hold about as many cars as two miles of one lane of traffic. Call the amount of traffic two lane miles.
The unmentioned advantage to merging late occurs when there is an exit one and a half miles before the construction merge point. Only if traffic merges late can traffic exit without having to wait for construction delays. Further, late merging traffic doesn't have to stress about "cheaters" that merge late.
