I drive the same 2.6-mile stretch of Ward Road at least twice a day. I could give an intersection-by-intersection overview if prodded, from the house on the hill that has yard decorations and blowups for every holiday imaginable to the pig statue that graces the used car lot off of 48th Street.
What I couldn’t tell you, though, with any certainty, is how long it takes to drive those 2.6 miles.
Blame the well-traveled road effect.
The well-traveled road effect is the tendency to underestimate how long it takes to drive a familiar route.
This happens because our brains confuse duration with cognitive ease. The easier something is, the less time we think it will take.
And it’s not just routes—it’s anything that’s not cognitively demanding: vacuuming the house, emptying the dishwasher, getting a toddler ready to leave the house. These tasks are all cognitively easy (if somewhat frustrating), and all take longer to complete than you’d think.
Taylor Coe 