[SentraSE-R]

My answer to Jesse's question is, it depends. The 12 miles of high speed traffic with stoplights every two miles is more like city driving than highway driving. If he lets other traffic push him into rushing up to those lights and lose lots of kinetic energy, then a non-stop route will give better mpg. Typical mpg in a stoplight to stoplight drag race is <10 mpg. Starting from stops are some of the worst fuel economy conditions imaginable, with uphills coming in a distant second place.

If, OTOH, Jesse isn't intimidated by other traffic, keeps his speed down below freeway speeds, and coasts the last 1/3 mile to each light, he can use that as a nice P&G routine that can beat steady highway speed mpg.

When I lived a 13 mile round-trip from work, I bicycled. During my 34 year career, I only drove alone to work 3 of those years. The rest of the time, I bicycled, rode buses, motorcycled, carpooled, vanpooled, and rode trains and ferries.