[redpoint5]

Eddie-

You should get a gauge to track fuel consumption. Just because you get worse MPG on one route doesn't mean you consume more fuel by driving that route, especially if it's 2 miles shorter. Efficient route planning minimizes fuel consumption (not necessarily increasing MPG) and time spent driving.

As far as stop and go traffic is concerned, I get better fuel economy in gridlock than I do steady cruise on the freeway. I allow a gap to form ahead of me while I drive the average speed of traffic. When traffic is stopped, the buffer reduces, and when it moves again the buffer increases.

This might only work in Portland traffic as people don't madly change lanes like they do in SoCA. I once counted the number of cars that moved into the gap I created and subtracted the number of cars that moved back out of the gap for an hour-long drive from South Portland all the way through North Portland. The total cumulative number of cars that moved into the gap compared to those that moved out came to 13 cars in 1 hour of driving. That might have cost me an extra 20 seconds in my 3,600 second drive, or about half of 1% of my commute time. I'll gladly arrive at my destination 20 seconds later for the relaxation gained by constantly moving in traffic and gaining fuel economy