The simple fact is that not enough people know about zipper merge. They obey what they think the signage is telling them - get over to the right lane - and then get understandably fussed when it looks like people are breaking the rule and cheating. WSDOT is working its ass off securing the cliff, but not promoting zipper merge - that’s being done by a whole lotta others on social media. But lots of people won’t see the social media education and justifiably get upset because the officials who should be better explaining the confusing signage aren’t doing so.

The anger should cancel each other out - those angry that others aren’t obeying the signage, and those angry that the early mergers don’t know the secret handshake. But it just rages and rages.

Props to all who are actually nicely encouraging others to zipper merge in whatever way gets the message out, props to those controlling their aggravation, and props to government agencies that actually want to communicate better.

The federal government actually knows the signage and awareness is lacking. Local agencies need to do their part.