East Bay Commute times - Orinda to Emeryville or San Ramon (Oakland: how much, home)

[JCPTNH08]

For the past year I've been working at home, however I'm starting to look at new jobs that will have me working in an office, thus commuting.

Since I'm completely unfamiliar with the commute traffic patterns around here I'm wondering if someone can give me ideas of what I'm looking at for times:

Orinda to Emeryville:

What is the 24 like if I were leaving Orinda around 8:15 or 8:20am to get to Emeryville? Has the bulk of the traffic died down by then? What about coming home leaving Emeryville around 5 or 5:15pm?

Orinda to San Ramon:

Same times - leaving at 8:15 or 8:20 and coming home around 5 or 5:15.

Thanks for your help!

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by JCPTNH08

For the past year I've been working at home, however I'm starting to look at new jobs that will have me working in an office, thus commuting.

Since I'm completely unfamiliar with the commute traffic patterns around here I'm wondering if someone can give me ideas of what I'm looking at for times:

Orinda to Emeryville:

What is the 24 like if I were leaving Orinda around 8:15 or 8:20am to get to Emeryville? Has the bulk of the traffic died down by then? What about coming home leaving Emeryville around 5 or 5:15pm?

Orinda to San Ramon:

Same times - leaving at 8:15 or 8:20 and coming home around 5 or 5:15.

Thanks for your help!

If you leave Orinda at 815 you should arrive in Emeryville at around 830-845 depending on traffic.

If you leave Orinda at 815 you should arrive in San Ramon at around 9-maybe a little later. 680 from Walnut Creek South to San Ramon is very heavy.

[JCPTNH08]

Thanks for the input. I'm surprised that the time to get to Emeryville would be so short. I know it's not a long distance in terms of miles, but I'd expect 24 to be busy at that time. I'm also surprised that what I thought would be a reverse commute to San Ramon would take so long.

Can I assume the commutes home at the 5 or 5:15pm hour would take about the same amount of time as the morning commute?

[artemis78]

I don't know how the traffic is on the Lamorinda side of the tunnel---I get off in Oakland---but the stretch from Emeryville to the 24 in the evening commute can sometimes be horrifically awful. You might be okay at the earlier hour; on the rare occasions when I drive it, I usually hit it closer to 6. But if I don't remember to check traffic (and thus get off!) and it's bad, it can be half an hour just to get from Emeryville to Oakland.

I'm also a little surprised by the morning time (although granted I never, ever do that drive)---but it seems awfully quick given how much traffic there typically is on the 24 between Oakland and the Maze at that hour. (It's entirely possible that most of that traffic is coming from Berk/Oak, of course, so I defer to Lamorindans on that!)

[18Montclair]

Maybe Im being a bit optimistic? I don't know.

But I've driven that route in traffic times and it didnt seem to take that long. One thing you could do is get off at West Grand and go to Mandela Pkway and turn right there and go to Emeryville that way if traffic on the freeway is really bad.