Who else wanted to see that thing go 100 mph moving the barriers 😂

I can sleep better tonight after years and years of wondering how the hell those things moved!

If that thing breaks do people then yell out the window as they drive by "hey, your zipper is down!"?

I never knew of the existence of such a machine/vehicle until I came across this video in my feed.

I'm going to need this zipper for my old Levis.

I live in San Francisco and honestly my dad says it isn't even a traffic hazard, we've never had and bad experiences.

In case that piece of equipment breaks down. Does the boss tell the highway worker, "Your zipper is down"?

1:40 Hopefully the driver will be a big brave boy and try it without the stabilizers next time! We'll all rooting for you Timmy!

The movable median barrier system allows the use of four of the six lanes into The City in the morning and then four of the six out of The City in the afternoon to improve traffic flow. The previous system of pylons resulted in 16 deaths from head on collisions from 1968 to 2015.

This is one of the strangest comment sections I've ever seen. Its just pure unfiltered chaos

I drive across The Golden Gate Bridge on a weekly basis and this moving wall is something to behold. This safety wall has been needed for years.

Well that's 1 way to do your 8 hour work day just roll back and forth the whole day LMAO

The underlying issue is that the GG bridge is five lanes wide so it's a way to get three lanes for the heaviest traffic flow during commute hours. Way safer than the old method of a guy sitting on a truck moving rubber cones twice a day. I once saw a guy make a three-point U-turn in the middle of the bridge, a miracle nobody was killed.

I lived in SF for 30 yrs. Every now and then, once or twice a year maybe, there was a horrendous head-on collision on the GGB because there was no physical barrier between the traffic lanes. They used rubber day-glo cones which were shifted manually twice a day for morning and evening rush hour. Every time there was another collision, there was a lot of talk about what to do about the problem. I'm glad to see a solution has been created.

This shit is like 2 years old and the comments are fresh

I go over that bridge every day and this thing is a life saver. Brilliant to be able to add a lane to one side based on rush hour patterns. In the morning, southbound is one lane wider. Around 4pm they begin to give that lane to the northbound side.

Some closeups of the Barrier Transfer Machine (BTM) repositioning the new Moveable Median Barrier (MMB) on the Golden Gate Bridge at the tail end of its Thursday morning run on January 15, 2015. It started at the northern (Marin) end and this video is of it reaching the end of its run at the southern (San Francisco) end, near the toll plaza. The new Moveable Median Barrier (MMB) system is about 13,340 feet of 12-inch wide and 32-inch high steel clad units filled with high density concrete pinned together to form a semi-rigid median barrier. There are two barrier transfer machines, aka “zipper” trucks. This replaces, and is a vast improvement over, the old yellow plastic pylon divider system, which you can see still in partial use here to block off some lanes at the toll plaza. #goldengatebridge #goldengate #sanfrancisco #sanfranciscobayarea #medianbarrier #ggbridge #barriertransfermachine

2:52 Hold up is that fucking BMW Missing a Full Headlight?

The God's of KZfaq decided that today this video should be go viral.

Can a Brit just say that this idea is utterly brilliant. Way to go Guys.

why are there so many idiot comments. The machine allows for higher traffic volumes during peak hours in either direction. when people are heading to work the machine makes that direction have an extra lane and vice versa when people are heading home.

This comment section is actually the greatest piece of entertainment ive ever witnessed

It changes to 3 lanes from 2. Going into S.F. and then going out at evening rush hour. Pretty cool

In Germany, we have electronic signs that indicate the lanes you can use on your side, but this looks cooler

the rush hour will be over before this thing reached the other side....

Many people are complaining about the ridiculousness of this system, saying things like "people can move them by hand" or "just use overhead signs". In terms of people moving them, how exactly will those people be protected from high speed traffic zipping along a road which has pretty much no escape areas, not to mention walking the length of this thing without ANY form of protection. As for overhead signs, that works fine for a normal road on which cars have room to pull over safely (maybe on a sidewalk or nature strip), have access from side streets for tow truck or emergency services. All it would take is one tired driver not paying attention to the overhead signs, causing a multi-car pile up with possible fatalities. Any kind of collision on a bridge this size will cause traffic jams for kilometers and make it very difficult for emergency serevices to get to the accident site. Short of building an extra lane and erecting a permanent barrier down the middle, this is the best solution.

Has this video been on everyone's recommended? So many comments from today.

That is awesome! I could not do that job for long though. It protects the workers, and helps with traffic. Super cool!

Looks like they switched it to favor the side that will be getting the most traffic. It cost about a billion to create another golden gate bridge. Editing this one to add more lanes would be pretty costly I assume. Spending a few million dollars on this is pretty smart.

When you try to zip your pants back but you're drunk as fuck

How did I live all this time and not know about this!!!! Wow!

The tiny wheel in the back is like a lifeguard at the Olympics.

Never even knew something like that existed but it makes sense now

"...Zipper in action at the tail end". Just another day in San Francisco.

I like it. The Golden Gate's lanes are narrow, and without the barrier it's nerve wracking. They were probably tired of horrible accidents on the bridge. So this was a good idea.

"I went to school for 8 years and got my engineering degree and 50k in debt:" I get paid 14$ an hr

I completely understand the concept of the machinery. But why in the flying yellow fuck was he going back & forth.

Helps with traffic depending on the direction and time of day. Smart.

in morning hours cars drive more from outside city to inside city limits and viceversa in the evening so this helps it. and where road can't be widened. 🎯

Very cool, I never saw a thing like this before.

Man, I love seeing this stuff, and I also love when people get into fights about it because I just get to laugh at them as I live on the other side of the U.S.

heavy vehicle used to transfer concrete lane dividers, such as jersey barriers, which are used to relieve traffic congestion during rush hours. Many other cities use them temporarily during construction work

How does the KZfaq recommendation process work?

Can't wait for nanotechnology to zip my pants after peeing

Unusual, as never seen one of those before. Cheers for posting anyway.

very first time i ever seen one thnks for sharing

Things you don't miss when you move to the country! 😉 1 traffic 2 noise 3 people

They use this same system in San Juan Puerto Rico. It did a good job reducing gridlock, back when they had a lot of people there.

If you have driven on the GG Bridge that was built in the 1930's, you would know that the six driving lanes are very narrow and the only barrier for decades were cones. Numerous head on accidents have occurred. The MMB is a reasonable alternative even though it takes more footage out of the 'two center lanes'.

I used to be the BEST road zipper in the world 'till this darn machine done took ma jerb!!!

Such a very big improvement on the old system. There were usually three accidents a day under the old system.

Two years later and I'm fascinated about this 😳😤😂

Thanks KZfaq recommendations

The old 2-mile-long Tappan Zee Bridge in NYC used these zippers for many years. In the morning 4 lanes inbound, 3 outbound, in the evening the reverse. The moveable median wall employed two barrier movers working together, each moving the wall half the distance. The new Tappan Zee bridge opened last year and I'm not sure if the zippers are still used there.

For all the comments about money...if you can increase traffic flow, you can get more people across, which more pay the tolls that then pay for the zipper. It's likely not very expensive in the end, or breaks even, or makes money. Also, it needs a barrier, there are a lot of cars and most of the time going 50+mph, it's basically a freeway.

got one of these here in Boston; opens HOV for inbound traffic in the morning, southbound in the afternoon

at 2:51 the BMW has a missing headlight :p

Greetings from reddit.

In addition, this of you who can can understand why they just don't add lanes...OMG. The cost, the upheaval, the sheer magnitude of widening this iconic bridge built in 4 years in mid-1930's. It's a national landmark, not just a random bridge.

The guys in New Zealand have got this perfected... the lane changes are done in minutes with no disruptions. Peak hour morning traffic gets extra lanes into Aukland and less leaving the city. In the afternoon the process is reversed... like clockwork...

In England, two men in a truck, one driving, the other chucking cones out, 1 mile covered in about10 minutes, simples !

This is oddly satisfying.

We have the same concept in Denver as HOV lanes. They are a dedicated, separated, 2 lanes in the center of the highway with gates to allow traffic for rush hour in either direction as necessary. A bit safer and less costly in the long run.

Great work there! Oh and a nice day to everybody reading this! :)

I love all the self-proclaimed civil engineers on here.

I wonder what other type of vehicle machines exist in the world that we don't even know about.

If you crash your car into it, would this be described as getting "caught in the zip"?

Intense stuff right here

In Germany we have lights at the street that show you which direction you gotta drive...so this looks kind of weird xD

I counted 6 operators in the dual cabs, and two dudes on the ground. Seriously? There is no way that is necessary!

This is a most interesting machine! Looks like it could save a life or two

I can think of about 25 roads around metro Atlanta that needs this.

Now, that is what I need for my pants.

Very slow and look how many people the thing takes to operate. Should be a one man job with a machine that size.

A masterpiece in engineering

That's fantastic!!!! Great share

Why not just have lane control with lights above the lanes.... like everywhere else in the world (including the US)

I think that's special ... very good video :)

That's a great concept.

Pretty amazing machine. In O'ahu HI, they had that machine about 20 years ago. Not much of those machines exist in our country.

Why isn't there an app for your cellphone so you can just download extra lanes?

That is a cool machine!

I assume the 1.7k people that dislike this have to drive with this thing on the road everyday

I never knew such a thing existed. Amazing!

Anyone else find this satisfying?

looks like it would take all damn day

Cool. I didnt realize the bay area had this. Hawaii (Oahu) has had a zipper lane for morning commute traffic from the west side of the island since 1998.

They've got a budget for 2018 to buy a Velcro lane divider instead. Neighbors oppose the idea based on the sound.

great post, big like, from Germany

That's awesome I wonder if they come in smaller sizes so I can carry that around with me in case my zipper goes down in my pants

This type of barrier is not useless. The Auckland harbour bridge in New Zealand has had one for 20 years, and there has not been a fatal crash on that bridge since. Anyone who thinks it has no purpose has no regard for the lives it saves every day

This is cool ! 👍🏻

*Sky:* Hey Bridge, uh.. your... (ahem) your zips undone. *Golden Gate Bridge:* Oops, shit. My bad.

Pretty nifty thing you got there.

it's cool seeing the technology updating vastly. only machinery

At first I thought it was some sort of train that runs on a jersey barrier track! But this is still pretty neat...

I was expecting it to work like a zip, splitting the bridge in 2. That would've been worth watching

Cool job sitting going back and forthp

The WW bridge from Philly to NJ has one of them machines!

This is the safest way to micro manage traffic congestion at certain periods of the day ie peak hour periods morning and night traffic crossing the bridge to and fro from the city. They have a similar type of BTM in Auckland New Zealand on the Harbour Bridge actually 2 one follows the other moving while opening or closing 2 lanes at time