June 18, 2007
Your Commute: Worst Bay Area Traffic
The envelope, please! Here's your list of the 10 worst commutes in the Bay Area, compiled by the Metropolitan Transit Commission.
1. I-80 W to the Bay Bridge, in the a.m.
2. E-580 from 680 to Dublin in the p.m.
3. 580 around Livermore in the a.m.
4. Marin 101 S from Napa/Sonoma to 580 in the a.m.
5. 101 into San Francisco to the Bay Bridge in the p.m.
6. 92 in Alameda from the San Mateo Bridge to 880, in the p.m.
7. Highway 4 in the p.m.
8. 101 from SF across the Bay Bridge, in the p.m. (why is this different than #5?)
9. Highway 4 in the a.m.
10. (tie) 101 N in Marin, and W 80 across the Bay Bridge into SF.
A few questions: a) Why are certain symmetrical commutes worse either in the morning or the afternoon but not both? b) Why does the evening commute out of SF across the Bay Bridge get three separate entries, when the morning commute into SF gets only one? c) Why isn't 880 on this? and d) You know it's bad when a bridge collapses and the number 1 worst commute actually gets better
Your thoughts? What's your least favorite commute?
Picture of the MacArthur Maze repair by John Huseby from the Caltrans DOT Photography Department
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Commutes can be worse in the afternoon than in the AM for some places because people leave in the AM at different times depending on where they are headed. But they all time their commutes to try to get home at dinnertime.
Commute #5 is for people coming from the South to the City. Commute #9 is for people in the city going to the East Bay.
1. Division St. with a sprained wrist.
2. Caltrain with a bike.
3. Market and Octavia, obviously.
For SF supervisors, apparently City Hall to the Sunset District.
I-80:
In the morning everyone is headed for the same place: SF. So at the end of the line there are 3 major freeways that combine at the toll plaza. Going home, as you pass different freeway junctions--880, 580E and W, 24, 4--more and more poeple drop off the freeway thereby making the commute easier.
580 E to Dublin:
The simple answer is the Altamont pass. Everyone from Oakland to San Jose has to take 580 at some point to get across the pass. It is one big bottlneck. However going the opposite way during the morning, once these people get over the pass, they go their separate ways--680, 880, 580--and so on. So more freeway space for the same amount of cars equals faster commute.
That is based on nothing except what makes the most sense to me.
>>For SF supervisors, apparently City Hall to the Sunset District.
That would be the N-Judah, the busiest Muni Metro line in San Francisco. And since the launch of the T, in a near-meltdown state.
So I would agree with you.
Crossing 2nd and Mission, on my way from the BART to the office. I see people almost get wiped out by red light runners there all the time.
Can anyone tell me how long it will take to drive from Larkspur down to Palo Alto around 4pm on a weekday?