Just for fun, I diagrammed my route choices. The red circle is the entrance to my neighborhood. The red star is work. The green route is my preferred one, with the dangerous section in yellow. The blue route is the longer option, with the three schools shown in red.
When I started commuting years ago, I took the blue route to the intersection of 290, and went down the paved median of 290 most of the way. This is actually the shortest paved route. But, using the median is illegal, and presents its own dangers at intersections where traffic turns left. With the increased traffic over the passage of time, and construction of two of those three schools, the 290 median option is no longer viable. Riding in the lane on 290, where cars and semi trucks routinely travel at 55-60mph, is suicide. There is a curb with no shoulder, bike lane, or even a sidewalk.