Commute Question: Encinitas vs. Carmel Valley (Del Mar: home, where to buy, live)

[blockzilla]

I work in Point Loma, and rented a home in Carmel Valley for a year so I'm familiar with that commute. My commute was 7:30am I'd take the 5 down to Sea World Drive or Rosecrans exit, same way back around 4:30pm.

My question is, can someone describe the additional commute that would be involved in going from Encinitas (specifically the Olivenhain area) to Pt Loma in the morning and Pt Loma to Encinitas in the afternoon, as compared to when I lived in Carmel Valley? The 5 was clear sailing for me to/from CV in rush hour and was 25-30 minutes total usually, but I've heard it can be more congested north of the merge coming south in the morning and north in the evening rush hours.

CV was a little too cookie cutter and small on lot sizes for us so we're still looking where to buy. Thanks!

[NYSD1995]

The mornings should be pretty clear sailing at full speed.

However, there is a major bottleneck on 5N PM between Del Mar Heights and about Lomas Santa Fe. On Fridays it can back up pretty heavily back down to Sorrento Valley.

[Encinitan]

This depends on where you actually are in Olivenhain, cuz it's really spread out and pretty much all winding surface streets out there. But let's say it takes you 10 minutes to get to the I-5 from Olivenhain, which is pretty reasonable. It'd take you another 15-20 minutes to get to Carmel Valley, depending on traffic. So just add about 30 mins to your current commute and you'll have a guesstimate about the trip from Olivenhain.

[blockzilla]

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. One option for me is to go part time at work and cut my days shorter so I'd be commuting north in the afternoon at 2:30pm or 3pm, and just work M-Thurs so as to not deal with the Friday congestion and get to spend more time with the (soon hopefully) kiddies. Would that make much of a difference vs. a 4:30pm commute?

[Encinitan]

Originally Posted by blockzilla

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. One option for me is to go part time at work and cut my days shorter so I'd be commuting north in the afternoon at 2:30pm or 3pm, and just work M-Thurs so as to not deal with the Friday congestion and get to spend more time with the (soon hopefully) kiddies. Would that make much of a difference vs. a 4:30pm commute?

That would probably be a huge help. The Friday afternoon commute is already stacking up, and it's not even Memorial Day yet. The thing with SD traffic, as opposed to other large metro areas like LA, OC, etc., is that there really is a rush hour pattern. If you drive before or after those peak hours, you're flying down the freeway. So your adjustments in hours would help out a lot. Driving north on the 5 two hours earlier would most likely make a world of difference.