I recently drove on a newly repaved highway and immediately noticed a reduction in rolling resistance compared to the rough pavement that is typical in this area:

http://highpoly3d.com/textures/pavement/pavement_4.jpg

So I googled "rolling resistance" and came up with this Danish survey which claims that pavement alone can eat up 10% of your fuel economy.

http://www.vejdirektoratet.dk/publik.../chapter07.htm

Are those of you who drive on textured pavement getting fuel economy in reasonable ranges?

 

Anyone who does a lot of road bicycle riding knows this effect very well. Some surfaces that look OK actually are rough or soft enough to significantly increase the pedaling effort.

 

I was beginning to come to this conclusion. I have a stretch that has rough pavement and lose about 3 mpg when traveling on it.

 

Actually, FRESH blacktop seemed to be rougher than the old pavement they had down. Seems like I lost a few mpg for a few weeks until everyone beat on the fresh (soft/bumpy) blacktop. Now it seems to have lower rolling resistance.