AMA endorses contentious merging tactic often used on Whoop-Up Drive

Lethbridge drivers know the zipper merge all too well, mainly from the summer of 2015 when Whoop-Up Drive was undergoing maintenance. The strategy is to merge at the end of the ending lane. It may seem like the less polite way to drive, but according to a Canadian Automobile Association study, the zipper merge is decreasing traffic congestion in a major way.

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“For those that stay in the lane until it is fully closed off, and as long as we are curious as drivers and allowing for alternating vehicles to access a merge point, that can reduce traffic congestion – sometimes by 40 per cent,” Jeff Kasbrick, the Alberta Motor Association’s vice-president of government and stakeholder relations, said.

Another water cooler discussion surrounding Whoop-Up Drive is the alternating speed limit that the city is using. The city has been lowering speeds to 60 kilometres per hour during poor conditions, then bringing the limit back up to normal speed when conditions improve. According to the Alberta Motor Association, this strategy is not only safer, it’s actually helping with traffic congestion too.

“What you then avoid is some of that behaviour behind the wheel of hard acceleration that only results in hard braking,” Kasbrick said. “A variable speed limit actually helps encourage that platooning and encourage that consistent speed because it adjusts the speed limit of a certain area based upon the particular traffic conditions at the time.”

The variable speed limit is also being used in many other centres across North America.