As traffic calming devices go, road diets are far less obtrusive than speed tables and use less land than traffic circles. As dax00 notes, there are different ways to implement road diets. I like the hybrid of a center turn lane for both directions that become dedicated to one direction or the other near busier intersections.
I also want to concur with train's comment.
For the most part road diets don't even raise travel times much, anyway; the psychological perception of not being able to floor the gas pedal looms larger than any actual time loss, which tends to be pretty minimal. Oftentimes having roads designed for 40 MPH speeding just means that you spend more time at stoplights.
I've been driving a hybrid for five years now. The engine and fuel feedback changes the way one drives, as you adjust to get high fuel economy. One thing I've noticed is that in urban and suburban driving it really helps to avoid quick starts and stops, yet it doesn't change travel time much at all - just the perception of travel time.
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