You claim: This gets everyone through the construction zone faster since you don't have a stream of last-minute merges jamming things up.
There are countless studies demonstrating that this apparently widely held opinion is wrong. Here's one, discussing joint merge (i.e. merge at the end):
Overall, merging speeds were found to be relatively similar at volumes ranging from 600 to 1,200 vehicles per hour and did not affect the discharge rate at the merge outflow point. However, the experimental results did suggest that drivers were more cautious in their merging maneuvers. This was thought to be attributable to the joint merge, which produced a more evenly balanced lane volume at the transition zone entrance.
That is: drivers were more cautious (good), exit traffic flow was the same (contrary to your statement) and lane volume was balanced - i.e. the traffic jam extended less further down the freeway (very good).
Two major reasons for accidents during merges are
1) Anger at merge points based on perceived fairness
2) High speed traffic in the empty lane hitting vehicles
attempting to enter the free lane
The ideal pattern (maximal traffic flow, minimal accidents) is to fill all available lanes and merge at the ends on a take-turns basis.
The ideal pattern only exists in laboratory settings. In all real-world scenarios I've encountered driving in 15 states the actual outcome is road rage.
There are countless studies demonstrating that this apparently widely held opinion is wrong. Here's one, discussing joint merge (i.e. merge at the end):
http://www.workzonesafety.org/node/10936
Overall, merging speeds were found to be relatively similar at volumes ranging from 600 to 1,200 vehicles per hour and did not affect the discharge rate at the merge outflow point. However, the experimental results did suggest that drivers were more cautious in their merging maneuvers. This was thought to be attributable to the joint merge, which produced a more evenly balanced lane volume at the transition zone entrance.
That is: drivers were more cautious (good), exit traffic flow was the same (contrary to your statement) and lane volume was balanced - i.e. the traffic jam extended less further down the freeway (very good).
Two major reasons for accidents during merges are
The ideal pattern (maximal traffic flow, minimal accidents) is to fill all available lanes and merge at the ends on a take-turns basis.