With one lane of traffic in each direction due to construction at Victoria Street West, drivers are being urged to use the zipper merge.

The zipper merge works with drivers delaying their merge until their lane has come to an end, which is when drivers from each lane take turns merging into a single lane, like a zipper.

The city’s Capital Projects Manager Darren Crundwell says that will go a long way in reducing traffic congestion.

“I know we’re polite Canadians, but have a look online and have a look at that zipper merge,”he said. “It makes the traffic at least twice as fast through the corridor when you really see it working well.”

He also said he’ll speak to the flagging crews on scene asking them to encourage drivers to use the zipper merge wherever possible.

“I don’t believe that in our primary location on the site where the zipper merge is taking place at Seymour that there are any traffic control personnel,” he added. “It’s just signage.”

“We have them at the beginning of the job and then at First Avenue, but that’s something to bring up and I’ll do that next week.”

Crundwell is hopeful that drivers in Kamloops keep using the zipper merge technique long after the project is completed, calling it a “better driving practice”.