CEDAR POINT – To help relieve congestion at a Carteret County intersection, the N.C. Department of Transportation will install a temporary traffic management tool this week.
The department’s contractor will begin installing a zipper merge on N.C. 58 at N.C. 24 in Cedar Point at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Crews will install multiple message boards, speed sensors and cameras, and are expected to be complete around 10 p.m.
Zipper merges address congestion by promoting the use of the auxiliary lane during heavy traffic times. Depending on traffic conditions, message boards may indicate "Right Lane Ends / Merge Left", or “Use Both Lanes to Merge Point." The NCDOT website has more information on how a zipper merge works.
Over the following weeks, NCDOT may continue to make minor changes to optimize the zipper merge notification operation.
While the temporary system is in place, NCDOT will receive feedback from the technology and community to determine if a permanent zipper merge will be installed at a later date.
For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on social media.