Roads are smooth and wide (mostly 4 to 6 lanes) going to work in the morning, when traffic is light. I use more 2 lane roads in the evening rush hour. Home is 200 feet above work with no significant grades. With less than 8 inches of rain per year, roads are dry most of the time.
Started commuting when I moved back to Phoenix in 1980. Used a Raleigh Pro with fenders and rack in winter and a Ciocc in summer. Last year, I had a neck operation, so I can no longer use the diamond frames. I'm on a Lightning P-38 recumbent with front fairing. Since it uses a small (406) front wheel, I now have a clincher on the front. I still love sew-ups and run one on a carbon rim on the rear.
I guess the best experience I could share occurred in the mid '80's. I decided to stop behaving badly on the bike and started to obey traffic laws. Wow, I could not believe how much better motorists treated me. The way I read it, passing them on the right when they were stopped really bothered them (since they would have to re-pass me, sometimes more than once).
Every spring, I had my own personal "take your track bike to work" day. With my neck damage, I can't ride my 1930's track bike to work, or anywhere else, anymore. Sad, when I was in college in the early '60's, I used it to deliver prescriptions for a pharmacy.