The best route is not always the one with the fewest miles.

Distance is only one of the costs of a journey. A shorter road can be slower, uglier, harder on the driver, or worse for whoever is sitting in the back. Efficiency measured in a single number tends to hide the parts that actually determine how the trip feels when you arrive.

Before your next drive of any length, ask what you want from it besides arrival. Sometimes that is speed, and the short road wins. Sometimes it is a decent place to stop, a road with fewer turns, or a stretch of view worth the extra twenty minutes. Choose deliberately rather than letting the map choose for you.