What type of roads do you drive on?

[i_am_socket]

I drive a mix of suburban roads with timed lights, divided multi-lane highway, and urban insanity.

The urban and suburban roads are what kill my mileage most days. I can hit 45-49 MPG average for the trip on the highway, but once I get off of there it drops to 38-43. Lights are incredibly poorly timed, roads are filled beyond capacity, and the drivers are just completely insane. A mild hybrid system that used an electric motor to get me from a stop to 15/20 mph would save a good deal of mileage for me.

[Hugh Jim Bissel]

Maybe 2/3 of my miles are limited access highway. The rest is city, with a stop sign or two to get into/out-of my neighborhood.

Not sure what you mean by timed: do you mean a set timing pattern instead of varying with sensors? Most of the lights here have sensors, tho that doesn't always matter (One off ramp near the house doesn't usually seem to trigger unless someone comes to the light on the other side of the highway)

[99metro]

One way = 55 miles.
9 miles dirt/ancient seabed dirt roads.
18 miles rural paved.
28 miles divided highway.

[jkp1187]

Originally Posted by JacobAziza

I usually drive a mix of urban freeways and city streets, and, not having any instant feedback, my mileage reports are always averaged over different size loads, and various traffic conditions.

Recently I had a job which had me drive a long distance empty, pick up a load which was heavy but small enough to keep covered, and return, along a lightly trafficked mostly flat 4 lane freeway.

That got me about 15% better mileage than I have been averaging recently.

It got me thinking (again) about how some people write about techniques like P&G, dwl, dwb (pulse and glide, driving with load, driving without brakes)
I just don't see how it is possible to apply these in the real world, with traffic around.

So I wonder, what kind of roads do y'all drive on?

I drive on a mix of divided highways and city streets (most with timed lights).

Your point out getting better mileage on the longer trips is interesting, though. There are two ways I can go home from work. A ~ 10 mile trip through some tunnels that go directly through the city or an ~ 27 mile trip around the north side of the city (all on interstate highways.) The first choice is usually the right one, but in the summer time traffic has been backing up a lot at the tunnels, so if I leave work anywhere near rush hour, I find it far better (and sometimes faster) to go the 27 mile route. It's also way more relaxing, as the traffic is very low compared to the 10 mile route.

I really need to compare the numbers between the longer way versus the shorter way. My trip fuel economy is really good when I take the 27 mile route, but I think I'm still burning more gas going that way.

[JacobAziza]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jim Bissel

Not sure what you mean by timed: do you mean a set timing pattern instead of varying with sensors?

Timed meaning all the lights along the street are timed in a pattern relative to each other.
When the city sets up a main street this way, if you drive at the speed limit, after you get a green light, you will hit every other green all the way down the street.
The sensors are good too; then the main through street stays green always unless there is actually cross traffic.

In downtown Oakland and other Bay Area cities the traffic lights are all independent and not on sensors, so they change more or less randomly.
Today I went about a mile having to stop at EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION even though many had no cross traffic.

through some tunnels that go directly through the city

Wait, what!? You have interstate highways running underneath the city? That has to be one of the craziest things i have ever heard.

I got better mileage not just cause it was longer, but because it was a lightly trafficked 5-6 lane freeway, so I could get away with driving 45 the whole way. I almost never get to go so far with out stopping, because there are just so many people and so many cars around here.

[JacobAziza]

The poll is confirming my initial suspicions.

Of 34 responses, I am still the only one who drives primarily on city streets with untimed lights, with the single most common answer being rural roads.
That explains a bit to me. I am slightly jealous. I wonder what I could get out of my truck if I had a little more freedom and a little less red lights...

[Old Tele man]

...I was forced to pick "other" because driving on 3-4 lane wide freeway to/from work each day accounts for 90% with the other 10% being in-city (2-3 lane wide) driving (weekends).

...and, speed limits vary on the highway commute: 65mph then 55 mph, then back up to 65 mph, followed by 45 mph.

[JacobAziza]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...I was forced to pick "other" because driving on 3-4 lane wide freeway to/from work each day accounts for 90%

I should have written "what type of roads do you primarily drive on.
But I can't seem to edit polls.
I was thinking 60% or more; 90% I'd definitely have put under freeway

[cfg83]

JacobAziza -

IMO, your miles are "working miles". Your driving involves loading up your truck to move goods from A to B. Your MPG has a direct relationship to your job. Your truck is always doing "work". My miles are "commuting miles", which are indirectly related to my job. Essentially, I am "the goods" being transported from A to B and back again. It's not the same animal.

If you want to find out what your truck can do, you should do a weekend drive. Go see the Fresno Grizzlies, !

CarloSW2

[Hugh Jim Bissel]

Originally Posted by JacobAziza

Timed meaning all the lights along the street are timed in a pattern relative to each other.
When the city sets up a main street this way, if you drive at the speed limit, after you get a green light, you will hit every other green all the way down the street.
The sensors are good too; then the main through street stays green always unless there is actually cross traffic.

Ah, thank you; In that case, as far as I can tell, the lights aren't timed on the routes I normally take (suburban). And one thing I've been noticing is that there are a number of lights that stay solid "don't walk" (unless the button is pressed) making it hard to judge when the yellow is coming. Also, too many of the lights are intersections of main streets, so both streets have about equal traffic.

As for different techniques, now that I made a hand throttle, it's easy to DWL on the freeway or lightless stretches. I'll P&G using EOC, in town only (with exception of a big hill on the freeway); mostly pulsing up and gliding down hills and staying +/-5mph of the speed limit. I find it difficult to DWB: I don't want to be too much of a hinderance to other cars; when there's not other vehicles around I'll coast more, but I often still end up having to use a good bit of brake or engine braking.

I don't have a scan gauge or a 'guino, so with only tank by tank feedback alot of what I'm doing is guesswork. I probably ought to drive "normally" for a tank since I don't even have a baseline and the new epa #s seem ridiculously low (24/31 for a compact car).

I know what you mean about less lights and rural roads: I went about an hour out of town to help a friend move this morning, and in the 10+ miles between the highway and his house I don't think there was even 2 stoplights, though there was what appeared to be an unnecessary 3 (all)-way stop at a T junction. Coming out of his subdivision there were a few more stopsigns, but if that was the majority of my mileage I'd probably be getting 40+mpg! (my displayed average is a bit skewed right now from a long trip, and I don't have many tanks recorded yet.)