Commute help: Santa Clara to Redwood City (San Jose, Mountain View: school, dangerous)

[Bluedoor]

On the map, it's 17miles of 101-North, but people have talked about "bumper-to-bumper" morning/evening commutes from 7am/4pm. I'm a rather new driver in the Bay Area (I've a license, but I didn't need to drive in the last few years) with a subcompact car so I don't think freeway's a good idea for me. I've heard the Central Expressway is a better option as apparently the traffic actually moves and I can finish the commute in 40min if I leave around 7:30am? A friend told me that surface street is going to take me 3 hours.....so now I'm confused. And I really need to practise one route....

What do you think and what can you recommend?

[zombocom]

Expressways have higher speedlimits more lanes, few intersections, and the lights are usually better synced. However, the expressways are a uniquely Santa Clara County thing, and the central expressway stops in Mountain View. That means you'll be taking regular streets the majority of your commute.

Which will probably take longer than the traffic on the 101. How close are you to caltrain stops?

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by zombocom

Expressways have higher speedlimits more lanes, few intersections, and the lights are usually better synced. However, the expressways are a uniquely Santa Clara County thing, and the central expressway stops in Mountain View. That means you'll be taking regular streets the majority of your commute.

Which will probably take longer than the traffic on the 101. How close are you to caltrain stops?

Well Central Expressway connects/turns into Alma St in Palo Alto which then runs all the way to Menlo Park and then dumps you on El Camino. It can be a very useful way to get around. There was a period of about 8 years when I never used Highway 101 to get to work. I always used Central Expressway.

[sonarrat]

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. Earlier in the commute, Santa Clara to Redwood City on 101 is not that bad. However, for whatever reason, it is totally crazy from 9 am to noon. The earlier you hit 101, the better off you will be. Either way, freeways are safer in every measure than driving on the surface streets. People are used to dealing with slow drivers in subcompacts and they may get aggressive, but they're not going to murder you in your sleep.

As for Central, I tried it a few times and found that it wasn't really a low-stress alternate. There are just as many awkward or dangerous merges as there are on 101, with the added irk of endless stoplights. El Camino Real is worse because there are even more lights, plus it's endless miles of strip malls that people are diving in and out of. I feel much safer on the freeway.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. Earlier in the commute, Santa Clara to Redwood City on 101 is not that bad. However, for whatever reason, it is totally crazy from 9 am to noon. The earlier you hit 101, the better off you will be. Either way, freeways are safer in every measure than driving on the surface streets. People are used to dealing with slow drivers in subcompacts and they may get aggressive, but they're not going to murder you in your sleep.

As for Central, I tried it a few times and found that it wasn't really a low-stress alternate. There are just as many awkward or dangerous merges as there are on 101, with the added irk of endless stoplights. El Camino Real is worse because there are even more lights, plus it's endless miles of strip malls that people are diving in and out of. I feel much safer on the freeway.

I'm going to disagree with you on a couple of points. 101 NB from about Ellis Street through Embarcadero Road exits is a very long parking lot before 9 am.

El Camino Real, surprisingly, isn't all that bad before 9 am because much of the stores in strip malls aren't open around that time which minimizes the traffic.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I don't know about the commute times, but I wanted to let the OP know that Central Expressway does have stoplights that can be long. But the highway (101) does not have stoplights. I would choose 101 over Central Expressway for that reason alone. I hate the stoplights along Central Expressway, and especially along the El Camino Real.

[Bluedoor]

Thanks for the replies. I tried Central--St. Alma etc at 7:50am yesterday and it took 1hr, so I tried 101N 7:30am this morning and it took about 30min (in the slow lane- it's about 25mph from Mt. View-Palo Alto). Central has a faster merge, but it also has stoplights, school buses, cars turning...

I might choose Central for getting off work though.

[never-more]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. Earlier in the commute, Santa Clara to Redwood City on 101 is not that bad. However, for whatever reason, it is totally crazy from 9 am to noon. The earlier you hit 101, the better off you will be. Either way, freeways are safer in every measure than driving on the surface streets. People are used to dealing with slow drivers in subcompacts and they may get aggressive, but they're not going to murder you in your sleep.

As for Central, I tried it a few times and found that it wasn't really a low-stress alternate. There are just as many awkward or dangerous merges as there are on 101, with the added irk of endless stoplights. El Camino Real is worse because there are even more lights, plus it's endless miles of strip malls that people are diving in and out of. I feel much safer on the freeway.

I remembered reading the Mr. Roadshow column in the Mercury News, and the reason for that was the mass switch-off of the metering lights at 9 AM, so all the drivers trying to avoid the main stretch of the commute just flood the freeway at that hour.

Roadshow: Metering lights may remain on longer during morning commute - San Jose Mercury News

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by never-more

I remembered reading the Mr. Roadshow column in the Mercury News, and the reason for that was the mass switch-off of the metering lights at 9 AM, so all the drivers trying to avoid the main stretch of the commute just flood the freeway at that hour.

Roadshow: Metering lights may remain on longer during morning commute - San Jose Mercury News

I use 87, so the metering lights are all on until 10 am. Even there, the line at the lights is much longer at 9:30 than it is at 8:30, even with all the people illegally using the carpool lane at the Almaden on-ramp.