I’ll see you all and raise you the Hillside Strangler on 290 (Eisenhower Expressway) west of Chicago.
SIX lanes of traffic merging down to ONE lane as it enters the 290 eastbound. We’re talking interstate traffic: I-294 northbound, I-294 southbound, I-88 eastbound, and throw in Roosevelt Road for good measure.
After millions of bucks and over two years, the whole interchange was redesigned to basically move the bottleneck about 1/2 mile down the road. The average commute time from the western suburbs to downtown improved by nine seconds after all the work.
I agree that it is easier for highway traffic to just keep doing what they were doing and not try to anticipate how the merging traffic will get on. If there is room to move to the other lane, then by all means do so as a courtesy, but otherwise keep your speed constant. When I am merging it is easier for me to see where you are and adjust my speed accordingly to find a spot, but if you are slowing down and / or speeding up then I can’t tell where you are going to be. Then it becomes one of those awkward situations where we both slow down, then speed up, slow down, etc.
The problem is this only works if merging traffic knows it is their responsibility to find a spot, and enough people just barrel right on without a glance that I really can’t blame highway drivers for trying to anticipate them. We need an understanding, dammit!