Merge Lane on Casper’s Outer Drive, No One Uses You Right

This is my open letter on behalf of one of our local much-traveled streets. To the merge lane on Wyoming Boulevard, I feel your pain since no one ever seems to use you correctly.

I drive through this part of Casper just about every single day. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen any of my fellow drivers use this merge lane correctly. If you're new to town, this is the area I'm talking about.

From 2nd Street heading north on Wyoming Boulevard, it's 4 lanes for several blocks. It's easy to get tunnel vision and think it's gonna stay that way. Breaking News: it's not.

Suddenly, if you're in the far right lane, you see this worrisome sign.

You now have what feels like 50 feet to make a big decision. Do you...

1. Slow down and allow traffic on your left to clear, then carefully merge.
2. Floor it and accelerate past the traffic on the left and hope you don't run anyone over.

Over the past year, I witness just about everyone choose option #2. If I'm being honest with myself, I'll admit I've done option #2 once (or maybe many times).

Since in Casper it seems like we like to make new road signs, here's a simple request. Could someone in the street sign business please move that merge sign to the north so all of us polite drivers have a little bit more warning? That would be great since just about no one ever uses this merge lane correctly as a result. Please and thanks.