One of the interchange ramps on my commute home regularly slows to stop and go due to lane changes. There is an on ramp followed by an off ramp a mile later. They share a lane. Cars entering the freeway, cars exiting the freeway, and cars on the freeway all fight for space. And I live in a relatively affluent area (or rather a very stratified area) so lots of people have newer model cars with automatic cruise control that quickly fills gaps and and then hard brakes when people enter the freeway. It's a shitshow.

Anyway, I've learned that by exiting the freeway a mile early, entering downtown, doing a full circle on a round about, and reentering the freeway allows me to skip that mile or so of hostile traffic. I log my mileage and I have found the longer route actually burns less fuel, even.