Say goodbye to the zipper merge. Interstate 89 in Richmond south of Exit 11 is back to its regular traffic pattern in both directions.
A six-month project to replace a culvert began in May after a depression formed in the roadway, causing a mile-long lane closure in both travel directions. The Vermont Agency of Transportation declared the culvert issue was an emergency, posing serious potential hazards.
It also brought about the “zipper merge,” in which motorists use both lanes up until the merge point before taking turns merging into the correct lane. That creates the zipper effect.
State officials started encouraging the technique in September. At the time, project manager James Lacroix said the state was aiming to complete repairs this month, with an estimated cost of $12.1 million.
The schedule and the cost estimate were right on target, according to Amy Tatko, director of communications and public outreach at VTrans.
Last Friday at about 10 a.m., VTrans began a 15-minute rolling roadblock southbound from Exit 12 to Exit 11, allowing contractors to remove items that had been used to divert traffic around construction work and to “allow for one-lane traffic in the southbound travel lane,” according to a press release from the state.
On Saturday evening, VTrans closed I-89 northbound at Exit 10 and diverted traffic to Route 2 west, reconnecting with I-89 in Richmond. The detour allowed the “remaining work to be completed, with the removal of the remaining Jersey barriers and traffic control devices,” according to the release.
The detour lasted until early Sunday morning, at which point all lanes in the I-89 work zone were fully reopened, Tatko said.
There’s still some work to do on the culvert project, but “any further work should not impact the traveling public,” VTrans reported on the Construction Updates section of its website.