Commute route in Santa Clara? San Thomas or Hwy 17

[PetoM3]

Hi all,

I'm deciding which area in San Jose to move to (either Willow Glen | Campbell | Cambrian area) and wondering what the commute to Santa Clara situation is and any tribal knowledge someone here may have...

Are there any routes/hwys better than the other between Santa Clara and Willow Glen | Campbell | Cambrian neighborhoods to take for daily commute? I'm mainly looking at 7-9 mi commute either via San Thomas Expy or Hwy 17, with 45 and 50mph respectively?

Deciding factors:
- commute time / amount of traffic on avg. I want to be within 25m
commute with no traffic and <50m during rush hour
- enjoyable drive (i.e not much traffic going left/right for exits), faster drive
- view/greenery
- fewer speed traps/police monitoring
- deadlocks/accident frequency

I'll commute to Santa Clara (~cross of 101 and San Thomas Expy) and considering Willow Glen, Campbell and Cambrian neighborhoods for apt searching.

I've had pretty good commute in Seattle. 12miles, but 1mile through a park and then 10miles on a nice highway.

Cheers!

[RE36TRO]

Given all your areas of potential residence San Thomas is basically the most straight forward and direct option coming from anyone of those areas. I see no reason to veer off anywhere else as it's a straight shot to your destination.

[wyatth]

I'm less familiar with the South Bay so can't help much. Where in Seattle did/do you live?
Problem with a 10 mile commute is that the engine isn't warm until you're nearly arriving at your destination.

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by wyatth

I'm less familiar with the South Bay so can't help much. Where in Seattle did/do you live?
Problem with a 10 mile commute is that the engine isn't warm until you're nearly arriving at your destination.

If not for traffic I wouldn't mind a little longer commute, but I found 25 min commute on avg works good for me and 10 miles seems to about that time frame in the Santa Clara area from what I read/saw online.
I often drive to mountains on weekends and plan to do the same in the bay area, so hopefully the 20+ mi road trips offset these short weekly drives.

[Richneerd]

You working in Santa Clara? if so what company?

you want to live in a place going south to work.

I live next to the Levi Stadium.

Going south on 87 to work I get no traffic to down town San Jose.

Same for going home, I take the 87 and get off on 1st. I get home in 15 minutes.

No Traffic.

[TTony]

Hwy 17 north in the morning is not too bad at all. The commute will be similar for all the areas you listed. They are all basically 5 minutes away from each other.

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by TTony

Hwy 17 north in the morning is not too bad at all. The commute will be similar for all the areas you listed. They are all basically 5 minutes away from each other.

That's great to hear. I'm staying in a hotel while searching for an apt for a few days so I'll definitely give them a shot to see how it's like.

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by Richneerd

You working in Santa Clara? if so what company?

you want to live in a place going south to work.

I live next to the Levi Stadium.

Going south on 87 to work I get no traffic to down town San Jose.

Same for going home, I take the 87 and get off on 1st. I get home in 15 minutes.

No Traffic.

I guess that would suggest its more popular to live south? I think I heard Los Gatos is very popular, so that'd make sense. I do want to live closer to the mountains in the south so I haven't even looked north from Santa Clara.

[PetoM3]

Do you guys / local m3 owners do any meets and scenic/sporty drives around? I've used to do some in the Pacific Northwest past years and had some fun on the twisties. A friend of mine living in SJ has been speaking highly of Big Sur.

[wyatth]

Big Sur is great as is most of HWY 1. The highway out to Santa Cruz is great too. Also near you is the Alice's Restaurant on Skyline Blvd. Heading east, you have Mt Hamilton not far away. Surrounded by nice weekend drives! A little further away and you have Mt. Tam, Mt. Diablo, etc.

[TTony]

Originally Posted by PetoM3

Do you guys / local m3 owners do any meets and scenic/sporty drives around? I've used to do some in the Pacific Northwest past years and had some fun on the twisties. A friend of mine living in SJ has been speaking highly of Big Sur.

Big Sur is a nice road but you won't be able to go more than 30mph on it due to traffic. The really good roads are in the areas around Laguna Seca (look up the Car & Driver best drivers car roads...). There's a monthly BMW ///M meet up in Fremont, it's posted on this California board as well.

[Frozen]

I'm currently commuting from Santa Cruz to Foster City every day. 17 can be a shit show. I usually take Hwy 1 all the way down to 92

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by TTony

Hwy 17 north in the morning is not too bad at all. The commute will be similar for all the areas you listed. They are all basically 5 minutes away from each other.

I tried both [17 to 101] and San Thomas from Campbell at off peak (10am, 12pm) today and the 17 seems a much better commute ride, though I have to hop from 17 to 101 and then on San Thomas, while San Thomas is a direct. The traffic lights every mile on San Thomas are rather annoying plus on 17 you can go much much faster. The views are much better on 17/101 as well. So it'll boil down to how busy each gets.

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by Frozen

I'm currently commuting from Santa Cruz to Foster City every day. 17 can be a shit show. I usually take Hwy 1 all the way down to 92

I can imagine coastal Hwy 1 is a nice ride, but damn that's a long commute!

[PetoM3]

Originally Posted by TTony

Big Sur is a nice road but you won't be able to go more than 30mph on it due to traffic. The really good roads are in the areas around Laguna Seca (look up the Car & Driver best drivers car roads...). There's a monthly BMW ///M meet up in Fremont, it's posted on this California board as well.

For weekend mountain drives in PNW we used to meet up at 7am on weekends, so hopefully leaving early for Big Sur will make it more pleasant?

[TTony]

Originally Posted by PetoM3

For weekend mountain drives in PNW we used to meet up at 7am on weekends, so hopefully leaving early for Big Sur will make it more pleasant?

7am in San Jose would put you there about 9am, the problem is it's a 2 lane road and a major connection point between Norcal and Socal. People leave early to drive from SF down to LA in 1 day so I've never seen the road empty.