What time to avoid freeway OUT going north

[tirby]

We are going in June 2012. Trying to time the rental car stuff. SO leaving DL on a THURSDAY morning to Knotts. Then Friday heading UP NORTH to San Jose.. So what time in the morning do we WANT to be on or NOT ON the I -5going OUT of town? We live in a small town in Idaho and we dont even HAVE a freeway! So please any info will help thank you!

 

[disneychrista]

We wait until about 10am, so we avoid the morning commute traffic. But even with that expect there to be traffic regardless of when you leave.

 

[BayAreaMom]

Last time in June we left on a Thursday at noon. We hit a small amount of traffic in Norwalk, then again on I-5 in the middle of no where where they are doing construction. Then traffic again through San Jose.
I think leaving between 11-1 pm is probably a good window. Could maybe push that a little later, maybe 2 pm, but not much later.

 

[PinkBudgie]

The trickey part is, if you leave DLR when there is less traffic, you get up to the Bay Area just in time for evening traffic. We usually leave around 9ish-10ish and miss the heaviest traffic down there, but in the Bay Area there may be some stop and go. You just have to resign yourself that it will be. One thing we try to do is drive back and forth on a weekend. This last trip we left my sister's (an hour east of DLR) at 9:45 on a Monday and arrived to our home in the North Bay at 6:45. We drive through Oakland and it was stop and go for a little while there. Haven't gone to San Jose from down there, so can't say how the road will be. Mostly you just have to assume there will be traffic at one end or the other.

 

[JH87]

Ok, I have the same question, but going in the opposite direction. We are leaving DLR on a Wednesday and heading to San Diego. We don't wanna leave too late in the day, but we still wanna avoid the morning traffic for the most part. Any tips?

 

[tirby]

listening to all the input here is my plan. Tell me what you think.. AND if my plan is flawed TELL ME... I want this to be as smooth and easy as possible. AGAIN we are from a small town and big city (even medium city) traffic is stressfull to me.. BUT I LOVE DL


OK Pick up Rental Car AT Downtown Disneyland at 9 am....

LEAVE DL to go to KNOTTS at 9: 30 (ish). (they open at 10). Spending the night a block away.

LEAVE KNOTTS to go to SAN JOSE (winchester Mansion ) at 6 am. Then we would be up there in time for the last BIG tour ( last tour departs at 5 pm) and would have time to grab lunch ect on the way....
We will spend the night at a Hotel By San Jose Airport.

LEAVE San Jose up to Vallejo to six flags discovery kingdom at about 8 am (park is open 10:30 I think)
spend the night accross the streat. (eat at Olive Garden...)

Then at 7 am Drive BACK to San Jose to catch a plane Home
(Our rental car is to be dropped off at 9 am AT the airport)

Anyone KNOW how long it takes to get from San Jose to Vallejo IF there is traffic??

I would HATE to be late dropping our car off. THEY WOULD REALLY charge us if we were late!!.

 

[GrandBob]

l
LEAVE San Jose up to Vallejo to six flags discovery kingdom at about 8 am (park is open 10:30 I think)
spend the night accross the streat. (eat at Olive Garden...)

Then at 7 am Drive BACK to San Jose to catch a plane Home
(Our rental car is to be dropped off at 9 am AT the airport)

Anyone KNOW how long it takes to get from San Jose to Vallejo IF there is traffic??

I would HATE to be late dropping our car off. THEY WOULD REALLY charge us if we were late!!.

OK, I live in Monterey, not San Jose. So all you Bay Area folks feel free to jump in and tell me where I'm wrong.

To get from San Jose to Vallejo you'll primarily be on 680. 680 can be a huge bear for traffic during rush hour. BUT, it's only a major problem in the direction of rush hour -- south in the AM, north in the PM. So, for your trip TO Vallejo, you'll probably run into some traffic in and around San Jose, but once you clear that, you should be OK. Not free and clear, but OK. Without traffic, that trip would be a little over an hour. So with some traffic, an hour and a half should do it.

Your major problem, though, is gonna be that 7AM drive BACK to San Jose. I'd be really, really worried about making it to SJC by 9 if you leave Vallejo at 7AM. Not being local to there, I don't know what time to tell you to leave. But I could see you sitting in stopped traffic for a while. OTOH, I know they added some express lanes in recent years for car pools (2 or more per vehicle) and for pay (FastTrack transponders). So it may be better than I remember. Again, hopefully someone who knows recent local conditions will jump in here...

-Bob

 

[tirby]

OK well for US no problem leaving at 6 am... Might just be a better plan. OH AND the getting TO the airport. THAT will be on a SUNDAY! (on Fathers Day) would THAT make the drive LESS traffic concern from 7 -9 am??? Just checking

 

[TeddiBarra]

Anyone KNOW how long it takes to get from San Jose to Vallejo IF there is traffic??

There absolutely will be traffic. Do not take 880/80, go the route of 680 to 780(benicia bridge) to 80 thru Vallejo.

There will be traffic in San Jose (expect city streets to be conjested) on 680, but it hopefully won't be toooo bad. There will be some commute traffic heading north, but it's mostly the lighter route of traffic. However, around Danville/Walnut Creek it does get conjested both ways. Once you are past the Walnut Creek slowdown, it opens up nicely and you really won't have any traffic until you get back onto 80- but it should just be slow, not stop and go.

As far as leaving at 6 am from Knotts... eh...you will just have to expect traffic most of the way from Orange County all through LA til you are north of the 210. So where that part would normally take about 60 mins, double that and figure 2 hours til you hit the Grapevine.

Do you have to fly home our of San Jose (I know probably too late now) but Oakland airport would save you alot of time. 2 hours will be enough, but you'll probably feel stressed a bit.

 

[tirby]

There absolutely will be traffic. Do not take 880/80, go the route of 680 to 780(benicia bridge) to 80 thru Vallejo.

There will be traffic in San Jose (expect city streets to be conjested) on 680, but it hopefully won't be toooo bad. There will be some commute traffic heading north, but it's mostly the lighter route of traffic. However, around Danville/Walnut Creek it does get conjested both ways. Once you are past the Walnut Creek slowdown, it opens up nicely and you really won't have any traffic until you get back onto 80- but it should just be slow, not stop and go.

As far as leaving at 6 am from Knotts... eh...you will just have to expect traffic most of the way from Orange County all through LA til you are north of the 210. So where that part would normally take about 60 mins, double that and figure 2 hours til you hit the Grapevine.

Do you have to fly home our of San Jose (I know probably too late now) but Oakland airport would save you alot of time. 2 hours will be enough, but you'll probably feel stressed a bit.

I hadent even THOUGHT of Oakland! I will check it out THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! and NO not to late we arent leaving till JUNE 2012

 

[calicat]

I see that you are planning on driving from San Jose to Vallejo for six flaggs Discovery Kingdom. Did you know that there is a major amusement part in Santa Clara which is really close to San Jose? Is is called Great America. I havent' been to Great America in a couple of years but it was really fun last time I went. It has tons of roller coasters and a water park area. I have had season passes to Discovery Kingdom for the past few years because it is closer to where I live. Discovery Kingdom has less roller coasters that Great America but it does have animals and whale shows.

 

[tirby]

I see that you are planning on driving from San Jose to Vallejo for six flaggs Discovery Kingdom. Did you know that there is a major amusement part in Santa Clara which is really close to San Jose? Is is called Great America. I havent' been to Great America in a couple of years but it was really fun last time I went. It has tons of roller coasters and a water park area. I have had season passes to Discovery Kingdom for the past few years because it is closer to where I live. Discovery Kingdom has less roller coasters that Great America but it does have animals and whale shows.

I Didnt know. BUT feeding the animals is why we are going. AND
To the thought of flying out of Oakland. It saves a drive... And the tickets ARE about $10 cheeper BUT the rental car company wants $200 more dollers!... I think the drive to The San Jose airport is worth it!

AND is the traffic AS BAD on Sundays???

 

[tirby]

also MAP QUEST has us driving on this route.. I-80 for 1 mile the the 780 for 6miles then the 680 for 46 miles... that is the biggest portion of the trip. SO again is the traffic as bad Sat and Sunday AM between 6:30 - 8:30 am If figured The week day would be bad but I was hoping not as bad on the weekend......

 

[GrandBob]

AND is the traffic AS BAD on Sundays???

No, the traffic shouldn't be bad at all on Sunday. It should flow at near the speed limit.

 

[TeddiBarra]

AND is the traffic AS BAD on Sundays???

No, sorry! Wasn't paying attention to the Sunday part.

Just got back from Great America. IMO, Discovery Kingdom is a better park. Hadn't been to GA for some 15+ years, but it has lost two of it's big coasters in recent years. Meanwhile Discovery Kingdom has added several, so now, in terms of Coasters DK outranks on that, plus it's got the animals. True there's no water park, but if you really wanted to do a water park, Water World in Concord is bigger than the waterpark part of GA. (costs less money too)

Drive time from San Jose to DK- about 1 hr 20 mins.

As far as back to the airport- going 680 should be traffic free as well. 880 can get like L.A. traffic and be backed up even on the weekends, but that route should be good to go.

 

[cyclenut]

listening to all the input here is my plan. Tell me what you think.. AND if my plan is flawed TELL ME... I want this to be as smooth and easy as possible. AGAIN we are from a small town and big city (even medium city) traffic is stressfull to me.. BUT I LOVE DL


OK Pick up Rental Car AT Downtown Disneyland at 9 am....

LEAVE DL to go to KNOTTS at 9: 30 (ish). (they open at 10). Spending the night a block away.

LEAVE KNOTTS to go to SAN JOSE (winchester Mansion ) at 6 am. Then we would be up there in time for the last BIG tour ( last tour departs at 5 pm) and would have time to grab lunch ect on the way....
We will spend the night at a Hotel By San Jose Airport.

LEAVE San Jose up to Vallejo to six flags discovery kingdom at about 8 am (park is open 10:30 I think)
spend the night accross the streat. (eat at Olive Garden...)

Then at 7 am Drive BACK to San Jose to catch a plane Home
(Our rental car is to be dropped off at 9 am AT the airport)

Anyone KNOW how long it takes to get from San Jose to Vallejo IF there is traffic??

I would HATE to be late dropping our car off. THEY WOULD REALLY charge us if we were late!!.

Just a brief comment about your 6am departure. You will not run into much traffic as you initially leave but you *may* start to see some traffic tie-ups as you get into LA. Any backups should be short-lived though, unless there is an accident.

If you feel you will be cutting it close, I'd recommend leaving at 5:30. That 30 minutes can make a HUGE difference in getting out of the LA area. Then, if you do run into issues with traffic, you'll have a little extra time. If you breeze right out of town, you can always stop for breakfast on the other side of the grapevine.

If you are already allowing "extra" time, then you'll be fine with 6:00. Just be sure to get on the road and don't let that 6am turn into 6:15 or 6:30. Those few minutes start to make a big difference.

I'm on the road by 7:00 every morning for my commute north every morning. I'm on a different freeway though (405) but I can tell you that there is a very big difference between when I leave at 7:00 vs. when I leave at 6:30. There is an even bigger difference as early as 6:00. When I used to leave at 5:30, there was traffic, but it was all moving at 10Mph OVER the speed limit.

For my short 20 mile drive, the difference between leaving at 5:30 and leaving at 7:00 can be more than 20 minutes on the road. The difference between leaving at 5:30 and 6:00 is really just a contingency.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Just wanted to say the Winchester Mystery House is very interesting. I went when I was about 10, then again as an adult, and again several years ago. We took the big tour too.

 

[Carmatts]

Agree with cyclenut about a half hour making all the difference. The key is to be past downtown LA by 6:30. Once you get past downtown most of the traffic will be going the other way.