Moving to Silicon Valley: traffic
It’s been less than a week since my move to the Valley due to the Yahoo! gig, so I guess I can start my “first impressions” series for those contemplating the move in their potential future. Prior to arriving in Sunnyvale I have read horror stories about Silicon Valley traffic, so one of the important factors in apartment searching was proximity to corporate campus. We were reasonably lucky in finding an apartment nearby, so currently I don’t drive a whole lot - it takes me roughly 20-30 minutes to get to and from work.
The traffic in the Valley is not that bad. Actually, I have seen denser traffic on Sullivan Road in Spokane, WA, where I used to live (and work) than I see on Mathilda in the morning and evening rush hour. Perhaps it’s all the people getting onto 101 and freeing up Mathilda and El Camino, but it’s definitely lighter than I expected. If you’ve ever driven through Bellevue and Redmond during Seattle peak hours (especially if you’ve been on your way from SeaTac airport) you’ve seen how bad waiting in line and moving with 5 mph can be. Sunnyvale traffic is actually nowhere near, partly perhaps due to streets being very wide (4-5 lanes for major arterials), and liberal traffic rules allowing U-turns pretty much anywhere.
The drivers over here are pretty fast, and generally 10-15 miles above the speed limit is considered a norm, which was a bit of news for me, coming from WA state, where anything more than 5 miles above the speed limit would be a guaranteed ticket. They’re fast, but not rude, at least maybe I haven’t come across “characters” that would create an opposite impression. For example, before you get to Moffett Field, where Lockheed Martin is located, two left lanes suddenly become left-turn-only, and by the time you see the sign, you suddenly realize the need to change a couple of lanes to the right. It happens when you’re driving down Mathilda for the first couple of times and get into left-side lanes to avoid the slower traffic on the right. Having the blinker on allows you to switch the lanes quite smoothly, with people actually letting you in. Spokane and Seattle traffic actually wasn’t that bad, but occasionally I had to deal with prolonged waits trying to switch lanes in morning trafffic.
September 9th, 2005 at 8:14 am #Jon Erickson
My first impression of the traffic in Silicon Valley was the same. I lived in Sunnyvale for 6 months and never encountered a traffic situation that I consider “bad”… even on 101. You’ll have to check out the pubs on Murphy street (in downtown Sunnyvale).