It is illegal to use that lane as a merge point. Where I used to work I'd see OSP write several tickets a day because of this. The arrows in that lane point to the left only, indicating it is a turn lane. If I can't get across all the lanes, I usually go right and get to a light where I can get turned around. We are lucky up here, and there isn't usually a time where waiting a a minute or so won't leave you with an opening.