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Old 08-24-2012, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
376 posts, read 652,821 times
Reputation: 353

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I want to live in Pleasant Hill (found a a really nice place!) and commute to Emeryville through the infamous Caldecott Tunnel. Is this advisable if I start work at 6:30 AM and leave at exactly 3:00 PM? BART isn't really an option, as I need my car for product deliveries at work.

I'm thinking the morning wouldn't be a problem as I'd be through the tunnel by 6:15 AM, but I'm concerned about the afternoon-just how early do people rush out there?

Any advice is appreciated!
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Old 08-24-2012, 09:33 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, CA
2,518 posts, read 4,008,316 times
Reputation: 624
Quote:
Originally Posted by ippi76 View Post
I want to live in Pleasant Hill (found a a really nice place!) and commute to Emeryville through the infamous Caldecott Tunnel. Is this advisable if I start work at 6:30 AM and leave at exactly 3:00 PM? BART isn't really an option, as I need my car for product deliveries at work.

I'm thinking the morning wouldn't be a problem as I'd be through the tunnel by 6:15 AM, but I'm concerned about the afternoon-just how early do people rush out there?

Any advice is appreciated!
You'll be fine at 6:30am. The tunnel doesn't get the "rush" until around 7:00am, that's when it starts to get clogged, but it still moves even then. The problem is if you're in the tunnel after 7:30am, then you're going to have to slog through.

But at 6:15am, you should be flying through IMO.
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Old 08-24-2012, 09:55 AM
 
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
36,653 posts, read 67,460,753 times
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Even if you leave at 3pm, traffic at the approach to the tunnel in Oakland might be busy, its really a hit and miss but generally 3pm is far better than 4pm on.

In the mornings, you should be okay barring any accidents or road closures.

Over time you will learn the shortcuts to Emeryville once you get to the Oakland side of the tunnel and there are quite a few.
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Old 08-24-2012, 02:55 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
376 posts, read 652,821 times
Reputation: 353
Thanks for the info, I'll do a few test runs but sounds like it shouldn't be too bad if I leave ~3 PM!
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Old 08-25-2012, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Lafayette, CA
2,518 posts, read 4,008,316 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ippi76 View Post
Thanks for the info, I'll do a few test runs but sounds like it shouldn't be too bad if I leave ~3 PM!
I'll tell you right now, as someone who has been taking the tunnel for a while, 3PM is your absolute cutoff for free flow back home. If you hit the tunnel going home at 3:30 to 4:00, it will still move, but it will definitely be slow. After 4:30, all bets are off.
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Old 08-25-2012, 06:39 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,071,673 times
Reputation: 2958
There is always BART and the Emery-Go-Round from Macarthur.
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Old 08-25-2012, 09:05 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,415 posts, read 8,270,306 times
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I commuted from Oakland to Concord for years and it gets pretty old, regardless of which direction you're going

Wet weather exacerbates things and it's definitely worse in the winter when there's less daylight hours.

Like people have said, after 3PM it turns to crap. Just do like I did and cut everyone off by taking the left lane until you have to merge
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