My commute home is from San Jose to San Francisco, and I basically have two options. I usually leave at 4pm, before rush hour gridlock. Option A 101N to 380W 43 miles Mostly flat highway, some congestion, slow & go. Sometimes stop & go. Avg speed is about 60mph, including the slow & go. Option B 87S to 280N 52 miles Lots of hills, almost always congestion free. Avg speed is about 70mph, although it is possible to go >85mph the entire way (280 is the local autobahn). Even though A is 9 miles shorter, typical travel time is about 50 minutes for both routes. I prefer B because it seems less stressful. 280 is just a nicer drive than 101. All else equal, it seems like the shorter route should be better if average MPG was also equal. Theoretically, which route should be worse for FE - ~40 miles of hills or ~40 miles of slow & go traffic?
If that was me driving, I am going to pick route A. Just anticipate your speed as you slow down and accelerate...you should do better IMO.
i tend to used 85 to 101. stay 101 based. it gets you higher mpg. if you can use 85, it's all downhill on the way home! you can average almost 85mpg for that strip while heading home. when i used to work in san mateo, i used to average about 50mpg with that commute.
