Best route from Richmond to Santa Clara???

[18Montclair]

What a horrible drive. A few months ago, I did the opposite drive and went from Saratoga to Richmond on a Friday Evening. I left Saratoga at 4pm and arrived in Richmond at 7pm. 3 HOURS. Just awful.

I took 280 to 880 to 80...it was hellacious.

I dont think your drive will be so bad though cause its in the opposite direction but you never know. Hmmm...now that I think about it, you could cross the Richmond San Rafael Bridge to 101 South and then take the GG Bridge into the City and from there catch the 280 all the way down to Saratoga Avenue. Seems longer but I bet the traffic would be much lighter overall.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Palmer Eldritch

I think she lives in SF so she just needs to catch the Santa Clara station Caltrain
before the last one leaves. If she misses the last train out of Santa Clara she could always break the window of one of the cars in the parking lot and sleep in the back seat until the morning train arrives.

LOL. But the problem is that I'm coming from Richmond (where I work), so my car would be parked out there - unless I drove to SF first, but that wouldn't save me any time. Argh!!! I think I'll just see how the traffic map looks tomorrow, and let that determine my route. Thanks to everyone for the input...

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

What a horrible drive. A few months ago, I did the opposite drive and went from Saratoga to Richmond on a Friday Evening. I left Saratoga at 4pm and arrived in Richmond at 7pm. 3 HOURS. Just awful.

I took 280 to 880 to 80...it was hellacious.

I dont think your drive will be so bad though cause its in the opposite direction but you never know. Hmmm...now that I think about it, you could cross the Richmond San Rafael Bridge to 101 South and then take the GG Bridge into the City and from there catch the 280 all the way down to Saratoga Avenue. Seems longer but I bet the traffic would be much lighter overall.

I did think of that route too (GG Bridge), though I'm not sure if it would be much better... normally I work right near the San Rafael bridge, but on Fridays I'm downtown near I-80, so it wouldn't be quite as convenient. We'll see!

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by artemis78

You might have already looked at this, but I just thought of it--remember that Capitol Corridor is a commuter line so it doesn't run after commute hours, in case you're planning to head back later in the night. Not a deal breaker since Richmond also has BART service so you could grab the last Santa Clara Caltrain and transfer at Millbrae, but E'ville and Berkeley might be trickier to get back to. (Alternatively, there are trains that run on Saturdays, too.)

Thanks for mentioning that, because I would be coming back pretty late (after 10pm most likely), and didn't notice how early it stopped running. If I do end up taking that train, I'll just be sure to catch it in Richmond & take CalTrain to BART on the way back. Or would it make more sense to do BART/CalTrain in both directions instead of the Capitol Corridor? Sheesh, they make public transit so difficult here, and then wonder why we have traffic & pollution issues.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Thanks for mentioning that, because I would be coming back pretty late (after 10pm most likely), and didn't notice how early it stopped running. If I do end up taking that train, I'll just be sure to catch it in Richmond & take CalTrain to BART on the way back. Or would it make more sense to do BART/CalTrain in both directions instead of the Capitol Corridor? Sheesh, they make public transit so difficult here, and then wonder why we have traffic & pollution issues.

In fairness, I don't think there are too many people commuting from Richmond to Santa Clara, and there is nonetheless a single train joining the two. Then again, my old piano teacher commuted from Berkeley to SJSU, so what do I know..

[gizmo980]

Well, never mind... they freakin' rescheduled the show for August. We were supposed to see Kathy Griffin, so I'm hella mad! Instead we're just going to meet for dinner in Redwood City, AFTER the traffic clears. Thanks for the advice all, and maybe I'll save this for August.