I'd appreciate some help with a traffic question.  Some friends and I will be visiting Yosemite in early June.  We need to drive from Yosemite back to Oakland to make an 11:30 am flight.  Let's assume we'd like to get to the airport by 9:30 am.  Would leaving at 5:00am give us sufficient time?  I know most of the trip will be light, but I'm worried about the last 40 miles or so, west of Tracy.  We'll be hitting there right around rush house (7:00 or 7:30).  Are we leaving ourselves enough time?  Any help from the traffic experts out there would be appreciated.

sounds right to me.

That's a long drive and traffic is pretty unpredictable as you approach the East Bay.  Have you thought about possibly staying at a hotel near the airport the night before?  Then you won't have to stress about it.

Suzanne that 40 mile corridor west of tracy is a nightmare I have to deal with on a daily basis......seriously seriously consider leaving at 4:15 or 4:30 and beat the onslaught of commuters that will congest that area starting at about 6:45 am.
One minor accident will easily back you up an hour. And you can expect a minor fender bender about 3 times a week. Good Luck and be safe.

Thanks for fast replies.  It's a Tuesday that we're headed to Oakland, unfortunately, not a weekend.  We have a rental house in Yosemite that's not exactly cheap, so leaving it and staying in an airport hotel is not really an option.  Of course, we can plan on taking the later red-eye flight that Tuesday, and then we won't need to worry about traffic (since we'll have all day to get to Oakland), but we had hoped to be able to get home that day rather than the next morning.  So you experts think it would take more than 2 hours to get from, say, Tracy, to Oakland airport?  Yikes - I'm a New Yorker, and that's bad even by our standards of nightmare traffic.

I vote the red-eye flight. I live practically on the runway of the Oaktown airport (in Alameda).  I'd do the red-eye or Penrod's advice.  You never know when there's going to be a major accident, or a truck fire, etc....and there almost always is something.

2 hours is a bad case scenario but it happens.... Heres the problem....should you take 580 west to the 238 that connects you to 880 you will be in a quagmire of semi trailers trying to get to the 880 as well because at the 580 and 238 interchange semi trailers are not allowed on the 580 and the 2 lane construction mess at that time of the commute on 238 is an absolute CRAWL. Hence any accidents will delay you in any number of areas over the last 40 miles of the trip. Leaving just  a half hour earlier keeps your window of congestion at a minimum.

Penrod, 238 was the exact nightmare I was exactly what I was thinking about too.  It almost always backed up at any given time.

Yeah that 238 connector for 580 to 880 is always jacked up

Maximize your stay in Yosemite and rearrange your flight schedule for the red eye.  You'll be "in-bound" on the reverse commute.   There are just too many chances to miss a flight during the AM commute when you consider the following routes: 205/580/238/880     I spent three hours crawling up the Altamont Pass when there was an accident in Livermore.  No need for the high level of stress.  Then factor in the rental car return which is north of the airport.

Actually Tuesday is usually the worst commute.  Leave a little earlier.

Just hire one of John L's limo for the whole trip!
(kidding)

I forgot about the rental car factor as well.  Most require a shuttle ride to the terminals.

OK, you all have convinced me that I need to change plans.  I had thought my only option was the late morning flight or the red-eye.  However, by opening up SFO as a possibility, I found a flight that leaves that airport at 4:25pm.  I know SFO is about 20 miles further along than Oakland, but we'll have all day to make it there, and we won't be dealing with rush hour problems.  I assume that mid-day traffic (i.e. between 11am and 1pm) is quite a bit lighter than the 7am-9am period.  Thanks for scaring me - I guess I needed it.  Thanks all!

Thats perfect take the san mateo bridge  to the 101. Or ask John B. he may have a better route.

Glad you decided.  Now you can plan your stops making your way back slowly.  

Still, if you come into some money, then have John B.'s limo. company drive you!