Dive summary:

• An MIT research center aligned with the concrete industry says there is evidence that concrete makes a better road surface than asphalt: It's harder.
• Called the Concrete Sustainability Hub, the MIT shop is publicizing a study from last year that it says demonstrates that using concrete in U.S. road surfaces could reduce fuel consumption by up to 3% a year.
• The difference, scientists concluded from study models of pavement-vehicle interaction is that vehicles sink a little bit into asphalt and are always climbing out of that very shallow hole that doesn't exist with harder concrete.

From the article:

Concrete pavements, inherently stiffer than asphalt, can reduce a car's "footprint" and gas costs. ...