Palo Alto has terrible access to highways, areas of pretty bad congestion because of an excess of concentrated office space, and a 25mph speed limit on most streets, even arterial ones (Middlefield, Alma, Charleston). A trip between any number of destinations in Palo Alto and Mountain View is 15-20 minutes without traffic.
Yeah, there are a surprisingly small number of 40+ MPH zones in the area, and this does add to travel time. I think the reason is that most streets (including all of the ones you mentioned) are in residential areas, and neighbors don't want to have high-speed traffic right in front of their homes.
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