Hwy 17 or 9 on a Friday afternoon? (San Jose, Stockton: rental car, rental, car)

[Raiderman]

Hiya!

My wife and I are flying in for a weekend in August. I grew up in Santa Cruz, but haven't been back in decades. We got a ridiculously cheap flight and rental car into Stockton, and are driving in to Santa Cruz for the weekend.

I remember 17 always being a nightmare, and am assuming it's only gotten worse, ESPECIALLY on a Friday afternoon going over the mountain from San Jose. That being said, we are going specifically to see our friends, who are performing at the Boardwalk that night. We get in at 2:30p, and the show is at 8. Realistically, do you think we can make it? How long should we plan on the trip from SJ to SC taking at 3:30 or 4:00p on a Friday?

Would you recommend getting of 17 and on to 9 in Los Gatos? It adds quite a bit of mileage doing that, and I'm thinking it may be a wash time wise..

[tehsquishmeister]

You should have no problem at all making it (traffic will still suck). Friday night is the only night I take HWY 9 (I usually take Bear Creek) because of the traffic.

To be conservative: 3:00PM -> to San Jose. About 2 hours.

5:00 PM -> Santa Cruz about 1.5 hours on Friday night, taking HWY 9 (I'd take HWY 9 TBH). I would actually take 280 N to 85 N, then take a left on Saratoga Ave (this turns into HWY 9).

All in all, it is probably a wash, but a much prettier drive. Time wise, you should make it no problem.