California State Route 82

Route 82 at the intersection with Mathilda Avenue (Sunnyvale)

Historic El Camino Real marker in Santa Clara

At its south end SR 82 starts as The Alameda at I-880 in San Jose.[3] Once it enters Santa Clara, it 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. SR 82, generally called "El Camino" by local residents, 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, SR 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.

SR 82 takes an inland course paralleling 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 I-280 tend to provide faster alternatives than Route 82 even during traffic jams on those freeways.

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

Prior to 2013, SR 82 continued past its current south end on The Alameda, becoming Santa Clara St. in Downtown San Jose[4] then turning 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. This relinquished segment south of I-880 within San Jose is legally no longer a state highway, but the state's Streets and Highways Code mandates that the City of San Jose is still required to maintain "signs directing motorists to the continuation of Route 82" and "ensure the continuity of traffic flow" on this segment.[3][4] Signs along US 101, I-280, and SR 87 where these relinquished segments intersect still have SR 82 shields. Though as of 2017, certain signs with SR 82 shields have been removed along US 101 near Blossom Hill Road and Capitol Expressway.

SR 82 is part of the National Highway System,[5] a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.[6]

Originally a segment of US 101 (and before that, the historic El Camino Real), the highway became completely inadequate for the needs of traffic with the rapid growth of the San Francisco Bay Area after World War II, including urbanization of the towns along its path. The Bayshore Highway to the east was originally built as "Bypass (BYP) US 101" and was upgraded to a freeway in 1937. With this upgrade, the original US 101 route was transferred to the Bayshore Freeway, and El Camino Real became US 101 BYP, but in response to protests, the switch in designations was reversed two years later, in 1939, and the Bayshore Freeway remained US 101 BYP until 1964.[7]

In 1964, US 101 was moved again onto the Bayshore Freeway, and its former alignment on El Camino Real became SR 82. It was defined as two portions: From Route (US) 101 near Ford Road south of San Jose to Route (US) 101 in San Francisco (which today corresponds to the Alemany Maze), and from Route (US) 101 near Alemany Boulevard to Route (SR) 87 (current unconstructed SR 230) in San Francisco. In 1968, the portions from I-280 (at current SR 82) to US 101 and from SR 101 to SR 87 were transferred to I-280. SR 87 was then deleted north of SR 237 in 1980, and is only constructed south of US 101,[4] and SR 82 today is designated as part of El Camino Real.

In 2013, SR 82 was relinquished south of I-880 through San Jose.[4] 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 Road to its former terminus at Blossom Hill Road and US 101. The city also has the further option to apply to make this segment a business route.[3][4]

Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[1] 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 [1][8][9]	Destinations	Notes
Santa Clara SCL R0.00-26.37	San Jose	R0.00[lower-alpha 1]	Silver Creek Valley Road	Continuation beyond US 101
		R0.00[lower-alpha 1]	US 101 (Bayshore Freeway) – San Francisco, Los Angeles	Interchange; original south end of SR 82; US 101 exit 378
		R0.36[lower-alpha 1]	Monterey Road, Blossom Hill Road (CR G10), Cottle Road	Interchange
		2.81[lower-alpha 1]	Capitol Expressway (CR G21)	Interchange
		6.06[lower-alpha 1]	CR G8 (Alma Avenue)
		6.90[lower-alpha 1]	I-280	Interchange; I-280 north exit 2, south exit 2A
		R7.31[lower-alpha 1]	San Carlos Street, Market Street
		R7.72[lower-alpha 1]	SR 87 (Guadalupe Parkway)	Interchange; SR 87 north exit 6, south exit 6A
		R8.08[lower-alpha 1]	Bird Avenue, San Carlos Street
		R8.61[lower-alpha 1]	Santa Clara Street
		9.91	I-880 – Oakland, Santa Cruz	Interchange; south end of state maintenance; I-880 exit 2; former SR 17
	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, Santa Cruz	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 exit 12A
	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

•  San Francisco Bay Area portal
•  California Roads portal
• El Camino Real (California)
• U.S. Route 101

Wikimedia Commons has media related to California State Route 82.

• Caltrans: State Route 82 highway conditions
• Caltrans Traffic Conditions Map
• California Highway Patrol Traffic Incidents
• California Highways: Route 82
• California @ AARoads.com - State Route 82