With the smashing success of the Google.com IPO, many folks think that Silicon Valley has returned. Venture Capital is up, supposedly hitting 20 Billion in investment for 2004, according to The New York Times. Every finance news portal seems to have some sort of take on why the return of the tech IPO is upon us.

Here’s my reasoning for why I believe that Silicon Valley is back: Traffic sucks.

As I regular commuter, I hit a 20 mile stretch of HWY 101 that lies smack in the middle of Silicon Valley. For the last few years, I have been enjoying a rather leisurely commute to work. Recently though, traffic has been reminiscent of the heyday of 1999. Multiple accidents, vehicle fires, coupled with everyone gawking at such events makes for the 101 that I remember when I first came to The Valley in 1999 as a tech nerd fresh out of college. I even made sure I got an apartment close to work so I didn’t have to get on 101. How I hated visiting my college buddies in Mountain View. How dare they live 15 miles south of me! But as the bubble burst and people began to abandon Silicon Valley, traffic lightened, then lightened some more, until it became quite pleasant to get around. Those days of a leisurely commute appear to be over.

If The Valley and tech really is back, it is a bittersweet homecoming, as I delight in technology and Silicon Valley, but I despise the traffic.