Yes, the traffic delays on Interstate 35 near Owatonna can be annoying, particularly on Friday evenings, but what’s worse are the drivers who insist on using one lane when approaching the road construction merger and, sometimes, make others get into the single file by blocking the other lane with their pickups, cars or semis.

Don’t they read the signs posted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation?

MnDOT encourages all motorists to use both lanes until they reach the merger. The scientific fact is that using all the available pavement makes the delays shorter, not longer.

It cuts the line in half, reduces the backed-up traffic farther up the freeway and avoids unnecessary clusters. The signs urge motorists to use the “zipper” method of taking turns at the merger.

It turns out that those guys who zoomed up the empty lanes on the freeways all these years were not just being jerks. Probably unknowingly, they were saving time for all the polite drivers who obediently lined up in single file.

Besides, it makes sense to be polite and take turns at the front of the line, not at the back. Only then you go through the road construction area in that single lane. It now seems silly that people were getting in line before they ever needed to get in line.