Northern California - Commuting between Diridon Station and Campbell

My job will be moving from Santa Cruz to Campbell in a couple of weeks, so I plan on taking my bike on the bus between Santa Cruz to San Jose. Any advice on routes between Diridon Station and Hamilton and Hwy 17?

The first concern is crossing 280. From maps, Meridian looks uninviting. Perhaps Race?

Then, it looks like Southwest Exwy is the most direct route. The Los Gatos Creek Trail looks like an interesting alternative, but it's longer. Also, if the trail is unpaved, or if it has significant traffic, it'll be less attractive to me.

Unless I get another job, I'll probably eventually explore various routes myself, but I'd like to get some opinions on what options there are without having to go all the way out there before I have to.

The one time I've ridden in the area, I took San Carlos all the way to Bascom, and Bascom all the way to Los Gatos, and retraced my way back. But San Carlos to Bascom would be somewhat roundabout.

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I used to do this commute a lot because I live in Campbell and worked in Palo Alto for a couple of years, so I'd take the train on the days I didn't ride all the way.

The best way I found was to take Montgomery->Bird straight south out of the caltrain station, follow it till it intersects Willow, and hang a right. Willow dead ends for cars at Blackford Elementary, but on a bike you take the LG Creek Trail entrance right next to the school and can zip down as far as you need to go. You can pop out again just South of Hamilton onto Creekside way if that's your destination.

You're right that the Meridian overcrossing is no fun. Race is OK, it's an undercrossing with no freeway ramps so it's a bit mellower but I found there to be a lot of crap around the roads there due to junkyard/recycling places in the area.

If you go that route I'll probably see you around, my kid is in Kindergarten at Blackford and I drop him off on the Trail-A-Bike pretty much every morning :)

I used to do this commute a lot because I live in Campbell and worked in Palo Alto for a couple of years, so I'd take the train on the days I didn't ride all the way.

The best way I found was to take Montgomery->Bird straight south out of the caltrain station, follow it till it intersects Willow, and hang a right. Willow dead ends for cars at Blackford Elementary, but on a bike you take the LG Creek Trail entrance right next to the school and can zip down as far as you need to go. You can pop out again just South of Hamilton onto Creekside way if that's your destination.

You're right that the Meridian overcrossing is no fun. Race is OK, it's an undercrossing with no freeway ramps so it's a bit mellower but I found there to be a lot of crap around the roads there due to junkyard/recycling places in the area.

If you go that route I'll probably see you around, my kid is in Kindergarten at Blackford and I drop him off on the Trail-A-Bike pretty much every morning :)

This is a good route - another option is to hop on the light rail at Diridon, and take it to the hamilton station.

I used to bike/bus commute between SJ and Santa Cruz, but now live on Bird in the area you mentioned - yes ahpook's route is good. A couple of things to try...

Variation 1:
There's a short bike trail that goes right under 280 in this area. It might not save much time from the above route, but is a nice change with less traffic:

- While going south on Bird, turn right on Auzerais (this is just prior Bird going over 280)

- After a little ways turn left on the bike path (short path that just opened 2 years ago, not on a lot of maps), it will take you under the freeway. Go past the bike bridge on your left that leads to Fuller and instead go straight, ending up on Lonus street (which connects to Lincoln).

- Take Lonus to Lincoln

- Left on Lincoln ave. (If using this route to go towards Diridon after work check out the burritos at Los Abuelos on Lincoln sometime).

- Right on Glen Eyrie ave, follow it all the way to Willow St. BTW Glen Eyrie is a nice quiet road.

- Right on Willow St and continue your route as already described.

Variation 2:
You can avoid even more traffic and having to deal with the San Carlos intersection with this varation. The turns I list below may sound more complicated than it is, worth checking it out sometime...

- After getting off the 17 bus at Diridon, go through the tunnel (as if you were going to the train platform). After the tunnel, cross the light rail tracks to the rail 'frontage road' (Grove Lane I think)

- Go south on Grove Ln. There are some newer condo type buildings on your right as you are doing this.

- Follow the bend to the right, then turn left onto Laurel (?) and follow to the intersection with Park Ave.

- Cross Park Ave and turn left (crossing Park Ave. is the only disadvantage of this route, but usually this isn't too bad)

- Take the immediate right off of Park onto McEvoy St.

- Immediate Left on Dupont (?). Dupont goes under San Carlos and leads you to the beginning of the bike trail I mentioned above (it starts on your left, down the sidewalk towards the trees).

- Follow the trail and you will end up where the trail meets Auzerais, continue with variation 1 above.


Enjoy! :)

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'll certainly check out the path under the freeway to Lonus. I plan on getting off the bus at Bird and San Carlos, then take either Park or San Carlos to Dupont and the path. I'll probably go by Blackford Elementary long after the start of the school day, probably between 10 and 11, as I'll supposedly be doing work while on the bus. When it rains, I'll take the light rail.