Origin
Santa Clara, CA
Evening in Santa Clara on Sunday
Local time
7:10 PM
PDT
Current temp
49°F
Unavailable
Live forecast
Trip from Santa Clara, CA to Fremont, CA
Compiled and reviewed by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy · Last reviewed Apr 20, 2026 · Editorial standards
Drive Time
26m
Distance
17.5 mi
28 km
Drive Score
8/10
Great drive
Same Day?
Yes, doable
Fuel Cost
$4
one way
EV Charging
Unknown
Best Time to Leave
4 AM
0h 24m
★
6 AM
0h 26m
8 AM
0h 31m
10 AM
0h 28m
12 PM
0h 27m
3 PM
0h 28m
5 PM
0h 30m
8 PM
0h 25m
Estimated drive times based on typical traffic patterns. Actual times may vary with weather, construction, and real-time conditions.
Santa Clara, CA
Wikimedia Commons
Trip Overview
This short 17.5-mile journey from Santa Clara, CA to Fremont, CA is easily manageable as a day trip, taking approximately 26 minutes to complete. You'll primarily be on the Nimitz Freeway, with sections of De La Cruz Boulevard and Mowry Avenue also part of the route. With a fuel cost estimated at $4, this drive is very budget-friendly. The highway-focused profile means you'll experience a consistent pace for most of the trip. Given its brevity and the lack of designated stops, this route is ideal for a quick transfer or an easy addition to a larger itinerary within the Pacific Coast region.
Main Roads
| Road | Distance | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Nimitz Freeway | 10.1 mi | 11m |
| De La Cruz Boulevard | 1.9 mi | 3m |
| Mowry Avenue | 1.4 mi | 2m |
| Montague Expressway | 0.8 mi | 1m |
| West Trimble Road | 0.8 mi | 1m |
| East Trimble Road | 0.7 mi | 1m |
| El Camino Real | 0.5 mi | 1m |
| Lincoln Street | 0.1 mi | <1m |
Longest stretch:
Nimitz Freeway
— 10.1 mi, about 11m
Turn-by-Turn Driving Directions
Step-by-step road directions between Santa Clara, CA and Fremont, CA.
1
Start on Lincoln Street
0.1 mi
·
20 sec
·
Lincoln Street
2
Turn left onto CA 82
0.5 mi
·
1 min
·
El Camino Real
3
Turn slight right
151 ft
·
6 sec
Use the right lane.
4
Turn slight right onto Lafayette Street
0.1 mi
·
19 sec
·
Lafayette Street
Use the right lane.
5
Turn left onto Harrison Street
503 ft
·
24 sec
·
Harrison Street
6
Turn left onto Alviso Street
188 ft
·
3 sec
·
Alviso Street
Use the straight lane.
7
Continue on De La Cruz Boulevard
1.9 mi
·
3 min
·
De La Cruz Boulevard
Use the straight / right lanes.
8
Continue on West Trimble Road
0.8 mi
·
1 min
·
West Trimble Road
Use the left lane.
9
Continue on East Trimble Road
0.7 mi
·
1 min
·
East Trimble Road
10
Turn right onto CR G4
0.8 mi
·
1 min
·
Montague Expressway
11
Take the exit
0.2 mi
·
29 sec
Toward I 880 North
Use the right lane.
12
Keep slight left at fork
0.3 mi
·
40 sec
Use the straight / right lanes.
13
Merge onto I 880
4.4 mi
·
5 min
·
Nimitz Freeway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
14
Keep slight right at fork onto I 880
5.7 mi
·
6 min
·
Nimitz Freeway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
15
Take the exit
0.3 mi
·
36 sec
Exit 17
Toward Mowry Avenue, Central Fremont
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
16
Turn right onto Mowry Avenue
1.4 mi
·
2 min
·
Mowry Avenue
Use the right lane.
17
Arrive at destination
Mowry Avenue
Heads-up: tricky spots
5 of 105 decision points cluster between mile 0.9 and 15.8 — GPS handles the exact turns, but know they're coming. Your lane choice matters more than the turn itself.
7
0.9 mi into trip
|
~2m in
|
Alviso Street
Turn left onto Alviso Street
Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight lane.
6
5.2 mi into trip
|
~9m in
Take the exit toward I 880 North
Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here
Use the right lane.
Toward I 880 North
7
5.4 mi into trip
|
~10m in
Keep slight left at fork
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / right lanes.
6
10.1 mi into trip
|
~16m in
|
I 880 / Nimitz Freeway
Keep slight right at fork onto I 880 / Nimitz Freeway
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
8
15.8 mi into trip
|
~22m in
Take the exit toward Mowry Avenue, Central Fremont
Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here. Multiple destination signs - pick the right one
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
Exit 17
Toward Mowry Avenue, Central Fremont
Fuel & Cost
Regular Gas
$4.02 one way
$8.04 round trip
$5.84/gal
25.4 MPG avg
6 kg CO2
| Fuel Type | $/gal | One Way | Round Trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| midgrade | $6.02 | $4.14 | $8.29 |
| premium | $6.18 | $4.26 | $8.51 |
| diesel | $5.61 | $3.86 | $7.73 |
No toll roads detected on this route.
Drive Cost (one way)
Fuel
$4
Estimated CO2 emission: 6.1 kg one way. Prices: EIA weekly data, 2026-04-13.
Driving Electric?
About $2 in charging · 0 stops · 67% less CO2
| Vehicle Type | kWh | Stops | DC Fast | Home Charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average EV | 5.3 | 0 | $1.84 | $0.84 |
| Efficient EV | 4.4 | 0 | $1.53 | $0.70 |
| EV Truck/SUV | 7 | 0 | $2.45 | $1.12 |
Gas CO2
6 kg
EV CO2
2 kg (67% less)
This trip is well within single-charge range for most EVs. No charging stops needed if you start fully charged.
DC fast charging avg $0.35/kWh. Home charging avg $0.16/kWh. US grid CO2: 0.39 kg/kWh.
Travel Intel
Current conditions at both ends of the drive.
Destination
Fremont, CA
Evening in Fremont on Sunday
Local time
7:10 PM
PDT
Current temp
49°F
Unavailable
Live forecast
Time zone
Same local time
Origin and destination are on the same clock, so arrival timing is easier to judge at a glance.
Temperature spread
Very similar conditions
Both ends of the route are sitting at about the same temperature right now.
Road read
26m on the road
Use the two city cards together: check the sky where you start, then compare it with the local time and temperature at arrival.
Weather data from the National Weather Service. Conditions may change; check closer to your travel date.
What kind of drive is this?
Expect a predominantly highway-focused drive, with 63% of the journey on freeways. The longest uninterrupted stretch you'll encounter is 10.1 miles along the Nimitz Freeway, offering a consistent pace. While much of the drive is on the highway, you will transition onto local roads like De La Cruz Boulevard and Mowry Avenue as you approach Fremont. This mix means you'll get a taste of both swift freeway travel and more typical urban driving during your short trip.
63% highway — fuel and pacing are the main things to plan.
17 navigation steps total — most of the decisions cluster near the start and finish.
Longest single stretch: 10.1 mi on Nimitz Freeway.
How Hard Is This Drive?
8/10
This is a straightforward highway drive that stays mostly on Nimitz Freeway and De La Cruz Boulevard. This route has several spots where lane changes, forks, or exits need your full attention. The trickiest moment comes around 0.9 miles in near Alviso Street.
Driving Effort
8/10
Focused - busy navigation packed into a short drive
Balances navigation complexity with total wheel time.
This is a short but busy drive. With 10 decision points packed into just 17.5 miles, you will need to pay attention to lane changes and exits — but the whole thing is over in 26m.
Where does it get tricky?
The main spots that need attention: at 0.9 miles (Alviso Street): Lane positioning matters here; at 5.2 miles: Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here; at 5.4 miles: Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here.
About the Cities
Starting in Santa Clara, CA
Full guide →Santa Clara is a town in the South Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California.
Arriving in Fremont, CA
Full guide →Founded 1956
Fremont is a suburban city in the southern part of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the 4th largest city in the Bay Area by population. Fremont is in the southern part of Alameda County, California, between Union City to the north, Sunol and the hills to the east, Milpitas and Santa Clara County to the south, and the San Francisco Bay to the west. The city of Newark, near the edge of the Bay, is surrounded by the city of Fremont. Fremont industry is not particularly large relative to other parts of the Bay Area, but neither is it a bedroom community. Many people in Fremont work locally in the electronics and high-tech industry, while many others commute to Silicon Valley or San Francisco locations for work.
Top landmarks
- • Mission San José — 18th-century Spanish mission in Fremont, California
- • Ardenwood Historic Farm — human settlement in California, United States of America
- • Niles Depot Museum — railway museum in Niles, California
City content from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0).
Who Is This Route For?
Weekend Trip
Doable as a same-day drive at 26m. Total distance: 17.5 miles.
Family Friendly
Moderate complexity with 0 natural rest stops along the way.
Solo Traveler
26m drive, comfortable solo distance.
EV Driver
0 DC fast chargers along the route. Coverage: unknown.
First-Time Driver
Mostly highway driving (63%). Some complex stretches to watch for.
Frequently Asked Questions
The longest stretch is about 10.1 miles on Nimitz Freeway. The full list of main roads is in the Roads section above.
It helps. This route has a higher-than-average number of complex decision points, which get harder in the dark. If the last hour of the trip is on surface roads or mountain grades, aim to arrive at Fremont, CA before sunset when you can. Check the Trip Plan for departure windows that land you in daylight.
Yes. At under 2 hours behind the wheel, this works well for families — plan one quick stop if you have younger kids.
The main spots that need attention: at 0.9 miles (Alviso Street): Lane positioning matters here; at 5.2 miles: Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here; at 5.4 miles: Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here.
Yes. A round trip is manageable in a single day if you plan a break at Fremont, CA before heading back.
How this page is built
Compiled by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy from open government datasets — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for geometry, and EIA for fuel prices. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.
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