California State Route 82

State Route 82
El Camino Real
Route information
Defined by Streets and Highways Code § 382
Maintained by Caltrans
Length:	52.176 mi (83.969 km) Part of SR 82 from I-880 to US 101 was relinquished in mid 2013 and is no longer included in the route.
Major junctions
South end:	I-880 in San Jose
	SR 85 in Mountain View SR 84 in Redwood City SR 92 in San Mateo
North end:	I-280 in San Francisco
Highway system
State highways in California Interstate U.S. State Pre-1964 History Unconstructed Deleted Freeway Scenic ← US 80 SR 83 →

State Route 82 (SR 82) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from Interstate 880 in San Jose to Interstate 280 in San Francisco following the San Francisco Peninsula. It is the spinal arterial road of the peninsula and runs parallel to the nearby Caltrain line along much of the route. In addition, El Camino passes through many historic downtown neighborhoods such as Burlingame, San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale, some of the most walkable and transit-oriented neighborhoods in the region.

Some portions of the highway are named El Camino Real, which also formed part of the historic El Camino Real mission trail.

Route description

Route 82 at the intersection with Mathilda Avenue (Sunnyvale)

Historical El Camino Real marker in Santa Clara

Route 82 begins its journey as The Alameda at Interstate 880 in San Jose. Once it enters Santa Clara, Route 82 bends north-east around Santa Clara University and onto El Camino Real, where it continues for the remainder of its trip up the San Francisco Peninsula, paralleling the Caltrain corridor. Route 82, referred to by local residents almost always as "El Camino," runs through a number of cities on the Peninsula, including Palo Alto (passing by Stanford University), San Carlos, San Mateo, Burlingame, and Millbrae, and it is a central artery of the Peninsula communities through which it passes.

In Daly City, Route 82 becomes Mission Street, connecting with San Francisco's Mission Street, but then quickly flows onto San Jose Avenue, crossing Alemany Boulevard, and terminating at I-280.

Route 82 takes an inland course paralleling the Bayshore Freeway (US 101). The entire route is at street level with at least four lanes of traffic; no portions of it exist as a freeway, although the route is occasionally a divided highway. The Bayshore Freeway and the Interstate 280 tend to provide faster alternatives than Route 82 even during traffic jams on those freeways.

From 1964 to 1968, Route 82 continued past its current end north on Alemany Boulevard to Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco (see below).

Prior to 2013, Route 82 continued past its current south end on The Alameda, which continues onto Santa Clara St. Then Routh 82 turned south on Montgomery St. (southbound) / Autumn St. (northbound); then it turned east on San Carlos St. It turned south on Market St., which becomes 1st St. and then Monterey Highway. It followed Monterey Highway until it turned east briefly on Blossom Hill Road, where it ended at US 101.

History

Originally a segment of U.S. Route 101 (and before that, the historic El Camino Real), rapid growth of the San Francisco Bay Area after World War II, including urbanization of the towns along its path, made it completely inadequate for the needs of traffic. The Bayshore Highway to the east was later upgraded to a freeway and was originally built as "Bypass U.S. 101".

In 1964, U.S. Route 101 was officially moved onto the Bayshore Freeway (now Route 101), and its former alignment on El Camino Real became California Route 82. It was defined as two portions: From Route 101 near Ford Road south of San Jose to Route 101 in San Francisco (which today corresponds to the Alemany Maze), and from Route 101 near Alemany Boulevard to Route 87 (current unbuilt State Route 230) in San Francisco. In 1968, the portions from Route 280 (at current Route 82) to Route 101 and from Route 101 to Route 87 were transferred to Route 280. Route 82 today is designated as part of El Camino Real.

In 2013, Route 82 was relinquished south of Interstate 880 through San Jose. However, the state's Streets and Highways Code states that the City of San Jose is still required to "ensure the continuity of traffic flow on the relinquished former portion of Route 82" along The Alameda into downtown San Jose, and from there along Monterey Highway to its former terminus at Blossom Hill Road and U.S. Route 101.

Grand Boulevard Initiative

The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a partnership of nineteen Bay Area transit agencies and municipalities that operate or manage various portions of the route. Although El Camino Real is ultimately under the stewardship of Caltrans, the organization nevertheless sponsors aesthetic and infrastructural improvements along the corridor and its neighboring parcels in order to revitalize the streetscape and promote density and more walkable and transit-oriented development.

Major intersections

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on its original southern terminus at US 101, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see the list of postmile definitions). Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The numbers reset at county lines; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column.

County	Location	Postmile	Destinations	Notes
Santa Clara SCL R0.00-26.37	San Jose	R0.00	Silver Creek Valley Road	Continuation beyond US 101
		R0.00	US 101 (Bayshore Freeway) – San Francisco, Los Angeles	Interchange; original south end of SR 82; US 101 exit 378
		R0.36	Monterey Road, Blossom Hill Road (CR G10), Cottle Road	Interchange
		2.81	Capitol Expressway (CR G21)	Interchange
		6.06	CR G8 (Alma Avenue)
		6.90	I-280	Interchange; I-280 north exit 2, south exit 2A
		R7.31	San Carlos Street, Market Street
		R7.72	SR 87 (Guadalupe Parkway)	Interchange; SR 87 north exit 6, south exit 6A
		R8.08	Bird Avenue, San Carlos Street
		R8.61	Santa Clara Street
		9.91	I-880 – Oakland, Santa Cruz	Interchange; south end of state maintenance; I-880 exit 2
	Santa Clara	11.38	De la Cruz Boulevard, Coleman Avenue to US 101	Interchange
			CR G4 (San Tomas Expressway)
		14.30	Lawrence Expressway (CR G2)	Interchange
	Sunnyvale	17.04	Mathilda Avenue	Former SR 85
	Mountain View	18.84	SR 85 – San Francisco, Cupertino	Interchange; SR 85 exits 22A-B
		19.13	SR 237 east / Grant Road – Milpitas	SR 237 exit 1A
	Mountain View–Los Altos line	21.84	San Antonio Road
	Palo Alto	24.04	CR G3 (Page Mill Road to Oregon Expressway)
		25.88	Palm Drive, University Avenue – Stanford University, Palo Alto Caltrain Station	Interchange
San Mateo SM 0.00-25.15	Menlo Park	0.77	Santa Cruz Avenue	No left turns from SR 82
	Atherton	1.89	Atherton Avenue
	Redwood City	3.44	SR 84 (Woodside Road) / Main Street – Woodside	Interchange
	San Carlos	6.57	Holly Street
	Belmont	7.69	Ralston Avenue	Former Legislative Route 214
	San Mateo	9.33	Hillsdale Boulevard	Interchange
		10.55	SR 92 – San Mateo Bridge, Hayward, Half Moon Bay	Interchange; SR 92 exits 12A-B
	Burlingame	12.96	Peninsula Avenue
	Millbrae	15.95	Millbrae Avenue
	San Bruno	18.60	San Bruno Avenue
		18.96	I-380 to US 101 / I-280 – San Francisco International Airport, San Jose, Daly City, San Francisco	Interchange; I-380 east exit 5, west exit 5C
	South San Francisco	21.91	Hickey Boulevard
	Colma		Serramonte Boulevard
	Daly City	24.85	John Daly Boulevard, Hillside Boulevard
		24.93	Mission Street
City and County of San Francisco SF 0.00-R0.21			Alemany Boulevard	Former SR 82 north; no left turn from SR 82 south to Alemany Boulevard
		R0.21	I-280 north – San Francisco Civic Center, Bay Bridge	Interchange; northbound exit and southbound entrance; I-280 south exit 50
		R0.21	San Jose Avenue	Continuation beyond I-280
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

See also

• El Camino Real (California)
• U.S. Route 101
• State Route 72, Route 82's sister route in Southern California.

External links

• Caltrans: Route 82 highway conditions
• California Highways: Route 82