Tracy

Understand

Geography and location

Tracy is at the western end of the Central Valley, the northeastern end of the Diablo Range, and on the east side of the Altamont Pass. Most of the city is located inside a man-made triangle made by Interstate 205, Interstate 580, and Interstate 5. It is around an hour or two from pretty much every single major city in Northern California (except Fresno, in which it is 2-3 hours away), and around 350 miles from Los Angeles, the state's largest city.

History

Tracy was founded as a railroad town that was created by the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. As like many other cities founded by the railroad, it was made at a designated station site. The station was named after J.J. Tracy, leading to the city being named Tracy.

In 1911, the city was incorporated as a town.

In December 1969, the Altamont Free Concert was held at the Altamont Raceway Park (now closed). Over 300,000 people came to the event, which was plagued by violence. Bands like the Rolling Stones and Santana performed.

From June 1-6 of 2024, the city was hit with national attention as the Corral Fire burned south of the city. It was the first major wildfire (over 2,000 acres burned) of 2024 and was the biggest fire until the Post Fire burned nine days later. What was extremely concerning about this fire was that it burned outside of the so-called "wildfire season" of July to October, burning in early June.

Climate

Tracy has a semi-arid Mediterranean climate with wet, windy winters and hot, dry summers. Even though this chart shows that the average high is 93°F (34°C), Tracy usually hits over 100 degrees in the summer months, with an average of 18 days of 100 °F (38 °C)+ highs and 82 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs. Below freezing temperatures have been seen, but are not common and usually occur in the night hours, and Tracy has never seen anything below 15°F (-9°C). There are 10 nights with lows at or below freezing annually, with the coldest night of the year typically hitting a little bit below 30 °F (−1 °C).

Rain is common in the winter, as rains in the area share more similarity to monsoons than they do to thunderstorms.

Get in

By car

Tracy gets a lot of traffic to and from the Bay Area, as the Altamont Pass, west of Tracy, is a choke point between the Central Valley and the Bay Area, and I-580 there is pretty much the only freeway that goes to the Bay Area. There is also traffic in the morning from I-5 and SR-99 going north, as they are also choke points. Please plan your drives to Tracy around the hours of 4-7PM if you are coming from the Bay Area, and 6-10AM if you are coming from the San Joaquin Valley, as rush-hour traffic caused by people going to work or home occurs at these times.

From the Bay Area

On I-680 South, take exit 21B for SR-84 East, then drive 10.5 miles to I-580 east, and then drive over the Altamont Pass to Tracy. From there, you can go to I-205 to Tracy Boulevard or Eleventh Street, or I-580 to Corral Hollow Road and the Tracy Hills neighborhood.

On I-680 North, take exit 30A for I-580 east, then drive over the Altamont Pass to Tracy. Then, you can do the same as the last route.

= Country roads =

Several country roads also connect Tracy from the Bay Area and its western neighbor, Livermore. These roads are usually one-lane or two-lane and are not designed to take fast and heavy traffic. But, if there is standstill traffic on I-580, these roads usually become the fastest routes. However, they can become packed very quickly. These roads include Altamont Pass Road, Tesla Road (which turns into Corral Hollow Road), and Patterson Pass Road.

From Sacramento or Stockton

On I-5 South, exit on either 458B (I-205) or 458A (I-205 BUS, Eleventh Street) to enter the city.

On State Route 99 South, take exit 241 for State Route 120 west, then take Exit 1A to I-5 South. Then do the same as the last route.

From Modesto, Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield, or Los Angeles

On I-5 North, either take exit 446 to I-580 (outside city, also leads to the Bay Area) or exit 457 to Kasson Road, which leads to Eleventh Street (in city).

On State Route 99 North, take exit 226 to State Route 132 and travel 10-20 miles to either exit 3B to I-5 North or to I-580 to south Tracy or the Bay Area.

By train

The Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Train connects the densely populated Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley, and it has a stop in Tracy. The ACE Train connects San Jose to Stockton

The ACE Train does four round-trips on weekdays only, excluding holidays, as it is a commuter train. Also because it is a commuter train, the train only goes westbound (Stockton to San Jose) in the morning and does the opposite (San Jose to Stockton) in the evening.

By air

The Tracy Municipal Airport is for general aviation. The closest airport with commercial flights is Stockton Metropolitan Airport in Stockton, which receives flights from Las Vegas, Denver, and Phoenix. The Bay Area has airports in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose.

Get around

By car

Tracy is built in a grid system, with the main roads making a grid pattern. However, these "blocks" are big, just a little less than one mile long on each side. Inside these blocks, the roads are usually built in random, suburban layout. The block between Eleventh Street, Tracy Boulevard, Schulte Road, and MacArthur Drive is considered the city's "downtown".

Main roads include Corral Hollow Road, Tracy Boulevard, Eleventh Street, and Grant Line Road

By public transport

Tracy's public transport is the Tracer, a bus system which has four "fixed" routes that go all week (Routes A-D), and three commuter routes, that go from Monday-Friday (Routes E-G). All routes start at the Tracy Transit Station at 50 East 6th Street. There are 31 total Tracer stops in the city. Routes A and B have reduced service on weekends.

Info for the Tracer Bus, its fares and routes, can be found on this PDF.

Go next

• Pleasanton and Livermore are towns in the Livermore Valley, just over the hills from Tracy on I-580. Livermore is the closest to Tracy, while Pleasanton is farther away to the west. Both of the towns have fairly large populations approaching 100,000, hiking opportunities in the Diablo Range, and mark the eastern edge of the East Bay.
• Stockton is 20-30 minutes away along Interstate 5 north from Tracy. It's close to the Sacramento Delta, a low-lying region to the west of Stockton.
• Sacramento is 60 miles north on Interstate 5 and about an hour away, if there is no traffic. It's the capital city of California, and has a growing metropolitan area that extends northeast toward the Sierra Range.
• San Francisco is on I-580 west; it's about 1 hour away if there's no traffic (which is basically never), and up to 3 hours during peak hours, which are usually 6-10AM and 3-7PM on weekdays. Being one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, it really doesn't need a description, but among the most important sights are the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. Make sure you allow a lot of time during peak hours when getting to the city.
• To get to San Jose, take I-580 west to California Route 84 in Livermore. Then go south on Route 84 past Livermore and over the hills to I-680, and then take I-680 south. San Jose is about 1 hour to 2 hours from Tracy, depending on the traffic.