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.

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.

[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.

[3][4] The Grand Boulevard Initiative is a partnership of nineteen Bay Area transit agencies and municipalities that operate or manage various portions of the route.

Although El Camino Real is ultimately under the stewardship of Caltrans, the organization nevertheless sponsors aesthetic and infrastructural improvements along the corridor and its neighboring parcels in order to revitalize the streetscape and promote density and more walkable and transit-oriented development.

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.