San Francisco

Busiest Bay Area Commutes Revealed in New Report

Jammed traffic is nothing new for Bay Area drivers, but there's a new stretch of roadway that has been flagged as the region's busiest.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission released a report Monday signaling that eastbound Interstate 80 headed out of San Francisco during evening rush hour is the most snarled piece of pavement.

Traversing that six-mile-long roadway from the U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 280 interchange to Treasure Island can take drivers up to one hour to accomplish, according to the report.

Before Monday's announcement, westbound I-80 from Hercules to San Francisco was the king of headache commutes. That route is now ranked as the second-worst commute in the Bay Area, but it still made history for being the only chunk of freeway to experience clogged congestion from morning until night.

The northbound morning commute on I-280 from San Jose to Cupertino rounded out the top three busiest stretches of pavement, according to the report.

A spike in new jobs in the Silicon Valley is at least partially to blame for the growing congestion in the South Bay.

"The problem is when you grow jobs like we are in the Silicon Valley at a rate of 10,000 to 15,000 jobs a month, when it comes to traffic we are paying the price right now," Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese said.

Southbound I-680 near South Jackson Avenue was named the third-most congested area in Santa Clara County. The area is a bottleneck drivers dread.

"Yes the traffic is bad," San Jose-resident Aris Lambiris said. "It's ridiculous."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission put together its report by defining busy or congested traffic as traveling at or below 35 miles per hour.

Local lawmakers on Monday discussed ways to help commuters spend less time stuck in their cars. They believe Measure B is the answer. The proposed sales tax measure could generate more than $6 billion.

"In addition to the money, it will give to BART and Caltrain," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said. "It will also fix interchanges where we have horrible congestion now."

Contact Us