Lincoln city officials are promoting a new way to merge in traffic called the "zipper merge."

Zipper merge is a concept when drivers use up all lanes of traffic until a driver is stopped by road construction. Drivers in the other lane would allow one car to merge in front of them.

A process Lincoln Transportation and Utilities' interim director Tom Casady approves.

"It's gaining popularity around the country as a way of handling certain kinds of traffic situations," Casady said.

Although many drivers don't know about it, it's something they don't do.

Lincoln driver Lenor Saenz said, "I try to follow the signals to where to go instead of getting there and waiting."

Another Lincoln driver, Larry Nelson, agrees. "I usually merge once I see the sign that says the lane is closed ahead," he said.

NDOT did research with zipper merging and found it reduces back ups by 40 percent. It also found there were less crashes and road rage.

Casady said, "If we cooperate on this, we can actually get traffic to move more quickly."

Even if the city were to promote zipper merging, people say they won't rely on other drivers to follow the guidelines.

According to Casady, other states have signs telling people to zipper merge.

At this point, Lincoln does not plan on putting signs in construction areas promoting zipper merging.