Blossom Valley area of San Jose - tell me all about it! (Santa Clara: buy, shopping center)

[sonarrat]

Update: they did completely revamp the 85/Almaden interchange. The lights seem to be better synchronized for getting onto Almaden, but the extra light cycle at the Wal-Mart has made going southbound on Almaden in the evening, between Branham and 85, a real time-waster. And the northbound 85 ramp to Almaden is backing up onto the freeway even more frequently.

[dogandcat]

Folks, my family is thinking about buying a house near the La Colina park in southern part of Blossom Valley (not far from Santa Teresa blvd and Cottle road intersection). Very nice area in general. Friendly neighbours, beautiful view, and good real estate prices.

Only one concern is a traffic. Could you tell me please about particular time period (hours from... and until...) when traffic from Blossom Valley to North Santa Clara and Cupertino is the worst, and when it is much better, morning and evening? We plan to use 85 to drive to Cupertino office, and 87 (then 101?) to drive to North Santa Clara office. Our working hours are rather flexible, but I still want to be sure that we are making a right choice buying house here.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

Folks, my family is thinking about buying a house near the La Colina park in southern part of Blossom Valley (not far from Santa Teresa blvd and Cottle road intersection). Very nice area in general. Friendly neighbours, beautiful view, and good real estate prices.

Only one concern is a traffic. Could you tell me please about particular time period (hours from... and until...) when traffic from Blossom Valley to North Santa Clara and Cupertino is the worst, and when it is much better, morning and evening? We plan to use 85 to drive to Cupertino office, and 87 (then 101?) to drive to North Santa Clara office. Our working hours are rather flexible, but I still want to be sure that we are making a right choice buying house here.

Traffic backup will start around 7 and will last until 10. Both routes will take you an hour.

There's just no other way around it. Until employers start doing the sensible thing by locating offices where the majority of workers live (ie San Jose), then you will always have to deal with traffic problems no matter where you live.

[leaningfizz]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

Folks, my family is thinking about buying a house near the La Colina park in southern part of Blossom Valley (not far from Santa Teresa blvd and Cottle road intersection). Very nice area in general. Friendly neighbours, beautiful view, and good real estate prices.

Only one concern is a traffic. Could you tell me please about particular time period (hours from... and until...) when traffic from Blossom Valley to North Santa Clara and Cupertino is the worst, and when it is much better, morning and evening? We plan to use 85 to drive to Cupertino office, and 87 (then 101?) to drive to North Santa Clara office. Our working hours are rather flexible, but I still want to be sure that we are making a right choice buying house here.

I lived near La Colina for 24 years and one of the biggest reasons I left the neighborhood was because of how long it took to get anywhere. Like Bobby said, traffic starts around 7 and ends at 10ish, but the traffic is at its worst from 8-9:30. It's unpredictable as well. Sometimes I could get from my house to Saratoga in a half hour, other days it would take me over an hour. Traffic is reasonable on 85 until around Branham or so, and then it completely stops thanks to the 17 interchange a few miles up the road.

It's a nice neighborhood but it's so far to the south that it will take forever to get anywhere. It's a shame light rail doesn't run the length of 85 because that would help a lot with the traffic congestion.

[dogandcat]

Thank you guys for a quick reply!
For now, I have a possibility to start my working day around 11:00AM. Of course sometimes I should arrive earlier for a meeting, etc, but in general I hope to avoid morning traffic as much as possibly, and do not leave home until 9:30AM. Things can change with getting a new job someday...

What about particular evening rush hours in that area?

[darkeconomist]

To be fair to the engineers, the freeway was laid out a looooooong time ago, finished a long time after that. The shopping center used to be much smaller. The costco wasn't always there. The giant building used to be an Emporium. But, with all the developments along Almaden between Blossom Hill and Branham in the last couple decades--the Costco, the re-vamping of Almaden Plaza, the Best Buy, the Bass Pro Shop, and now the WalMart--there's no way infrastructure designed for 1980s loads, even with updates, can keep up.

[darkeconomist]

Originally Posted by leaningfizz

It's a nice neighborhood but it's so far to the south that it will take forever to get anywhere. It's a shame light rail doesn't run the length of 85 because that would help a lot with the traffic congestion.

LRT was originally proposed for the full length of 85, thus the extra-wide median, but costs trimmed the LRT out of the equation. For better or worse, VTA plans to put HOT lanes the full length of 85. That'll help for a week.

[darkeconomist]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

Folks, my family is thinking about buying a house near the La Colina park in southern part of Blossom Valley (not far from Santa Teresa blvd and Cottle road intersection). Very nice area in general. Friendly neighbours, beautiful view, and good real estate prices.

Only one concern is a traffic. Could you tell me please about particular time period (hours from... and until...) when traffic from Blossom Valley to North Santa Clara and Cupertino is the worst, and when it is much better, morning and evening? We plan to use 85 to drive to Cupertino office, and 87 (then 101?) to drive to North Santa Clara office. Our working hours are rather flexible, but I still want to be sure that we are making a right choice buying house here.

You'll, basically, be going with traffic if you travel to either during morning rush. 85 takes all the Apple and Mountain View traffic. 87 and 101 takes all the DTSJ, North SJ, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and more Mountain View traffic.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

LRT was originally proposed for the full length of 85, thus the extra-wide median, but costs trimmed the LRT out of the equation. For better or worse, VTA plans to put HOT lanes the full length of 85. That'll help for a week.

It would be great if they would put in express/toll lanes!

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

Thank you guys for a quick reply!
For now, I have a possibility to start my working day around 11:00AM. Of course sometimes I should arrive earlier for a meeting, etc, but in general I hope to avoid morning traffic as much as possibly, and do not leave home until 9:30AM. Things can change with getting a new job someday...

What about particular evening rush hours in that area?

If you wait until after 7PM to leave you should be ok. Things start to clear up at 7PM and are reasonably clear by 7:30PM in my experience.