It’s summer, and that means Tuscaloosa is a sea of orange cones and construction zones. And it’s not clearing up any time soon, with two major road work projects under way on Interstate 20/59 and the heavily traveled Lurleen Wallace Boulevard and Hugh Thomas Bridge. Work to improve Alabama Highway 69 South should begin later this year … “Academically on paper, the zipper merge is great,” said Stephen Jones, a professor of transportation engineering and planning at University of Alabama and associate director for the University Transportation Center for Alabama.