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Interstate 80 is a major urban freeway in the Bay Area (seen here in Berkeley, California as the Eastshore Freeway).

Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area is reliant on a complex multimodal infrastructure consisting of roads, bridges, highways, rail, tunnels, airports, and bike and pedestrian paths. The development, maintenance, and operation of these different modes of transportation are overseen by various agencies, including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Association of Bay Area Governments, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. These and other organizations collectively manage several interstate highways and state routes, two subway networks, two commuter rail agencies, eight trans-bay bridges, transbay ferry service, local bus service, three international airports, and an extensive network of roads, tunnels, and bike paths.

A 2011 Brookings Institution study ranked the San Francisco MSA and the San Jose MSA sixteenth^[1] and second,^[2] respectively, on transit coverage to job access. Another nationwide study, conducted by the University of Minnesota in 2014, ranked the San Francisco MSA second and San Jose MSA tenth.^[3] Despite this, the San Francisco Bay Area remains the second most traffic-congested region in the country with a declining per capita use of public transit.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metropolitan statistical area (San Francisco MSA) had the second lowest percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (69.8 percent), with 7.6 percent of area workers traveling via bus. During the period starting in 2006 and ending in 2013, the San Francisco MSA had the greatest percentage decline of workers commuting by automobile (3.8 percent) among MSAs with more than a half million residents.^[4]

Airports[edit]

An aerial view of San Francisco International Airport at night.

The following airports are served by commercial airlines. In addition there are many general aviation airports in the region.

• 
  San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
  

  The busiest in the region, and a major international hub airport in California second only to LAX (Los Angeles). Hub to United Airlines and Virgin America.

  
  


• 
  Oakland International Airport (OAK)
  

  The second-busiest airport in the region and a major base airport for Southwest Airlines. Oakland International Airport is the oldest of the Bay Area's civilian airports still in use. The site was chosen due to its superior weather conditions for aircraft operations.

  
  


• 
  Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)
  

  The third-busiest and fastest-growing airport in the Bay Area.^[5]
  

  
  

Another minor airport is Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport (STS) in Santa Rosa. It is served by two commercial airlines, Horizon Air and Allegiant Air.

Airport shuttle service[edit]

Airport shuttle buses and vans provide services from the three major San Francisco Bay Area airports, namely San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Oakland International Airport (OAK), and San Jose International Airport (SJC) — Flat Rate Airport Taxi Cab and Car Service; BayPorter Express Airport Shuttle; Marin Airporter; Marin County Airport Shuttle; Monterey Airport Shuttle; Non Stop Airport Shuttle; Sonoma County Airport Express; SuperShuttle; and Cook Limousine Services.

Public transportation[edit]

Map of Bay Area Regional Rail Services.

Highways and mass transit of Silicon Valley

Public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area is quite extensive, including one heavy rail/commuter rail system, one commuter rail line, two light rail systems, Amtrak inter-city rail service, and four major overlapping bus agencies, in addition to dozens of smaller ones. In addition to rail and bus systems, there are multiple public and private ferry services, such as Golden Gate Ferry, which are being expanded by the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority. Most of the larger agencies accept the Clipper Card, a reloadable contactless smart card, as a universal electronic payment system.

An extensive rail infrastructure that provides a mix of services exists within the nine Bay Area counties. Bay Area Rapid Transit, commonly known as BART, provides subway service in San Francisco and parts of Oakland and Berkeley, and commuter rail service to Contra Costa County, Alameda County, and San Mateo County. An expansion that is currently under construction will build an additional station in Alameda County and bring BART south into Santa Clara County by 2016. Caltrain, which runs on the right-of-way of the historic Southern Pacific Railroad, provides commuter rail service on the San Francisco Peninsula, linking the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Gilroy, and numerous peninsula cities in between. The Millbrae Intermodal Terminal provides transfers between Caltrain and BART. The Altamont Corridor Express, commonly known as ACE, also provides commuter rail service, but from the Central Valley into Silicon Valley, terminating in the San Jose Diridon Station.

In addition, Amtrak has a presence throughout the Bay Area. Stations in Martinez and Emeryville feature Coast Starlight and California Zephyr service. The Capitol Corridor connects Bay Area cities to Sacramento, and features BART transfer stations at Richmond and the Oakland Coliseum. The Bay Area also has two light rail systems: one run by San Francisco Municipal Railway called Muni Metro, which operates within the city of San Francisco, and the other run by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which operates within Santa Clara County.

A series of overlapping bus agencies provide additional public transit coverage to Bay Area regions both served and not served by rail transit. The four largest agencies, Muni, AC Transit, SamTrans, and VTA operate within the City of San Francisco, East Bay, the Peninsula, and South Bay respectively, although their service areas generally overlap with neighboring agencies and numerous smaller agencies. All of these agencies also provide limited night bus service, which are intended to "shadow" the rail routes that are closed during the nighttime hours for maintenance. In addition, the four bus agencies are each independently pursuing constructing bus rapid transit systems by developing separated right-of-ways and traffic signaling on busy corridors, including on Geary and Van Ness for Muni, El Camino Real for SamTrans and VTA, and International Boulevard for AC Transit.

Although BART and certain bus agencies provide travel over (or under) the San Francisco bay, Golden Gate Transit also runs the Golden Gate Ferry, which along with private operators Blue & Gold Fleet and Red & White Fleet provide ferry service across the bay. The ferry, along with all the major train and bus operators, allow bicycles onto their systems with no additional charge. In addition, Bay Area residents may rent bicycles from the Bay Area Bike Share in certain parts of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.

Until 1971 the Southern Pacific Railroad operated from its Third and Townsend Depot commuter trains to San Jose and long distance trains to Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Metro/Heavy Rail[edit]

Agency Name	Train Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Routes	Stations	Track Length	Track Gauge	Mass Transit Connections
BART		San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties Parts of: San Mateo County Planned: Santa Clara County	455,400[6]	Yes	5	45 (16 subway, 29 surface) 4 under construction (surface)	104 mi (167 km)	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (Indian gauge)	Amtrak, Caltrain, Muni Metro, VTA Light Rail (under construction)

Commuter Rail[edit]

Agency Name	Train Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Routes	Stations	Track Length	Track Gauge	Mass Transit Connections
ACE		San Joaquin, Alameda and Santa Clara counties	4,900[6]	No	1	10 (10 surface)	86 mi (138 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	Amtrak, Caltrain, VTA Light Rail
Caltrain		San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties	58,200[6]	Yes	1	32 (32 surface) 1 planned (subway)	77.4 mi (124.6 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	ACE, Amtrak, BART, Muni Metro, VTA Light Rail
Capitol Corridor		Santa Clara, Alameda County, Contra Costa, Yolo, Sacramento, and Placer counties	5,000[6]	No	1	17 (17 surface)	168 mi (270 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	ACE, Amtrak, BART, Caltrain, VTA Light Rail
eBART		Eastern Contra Costa County	–	Yes	1	3	10 mi (16 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	BART
SMART		Marin and Sonoma counties	—	Yes	1	10 (10 surface) 1 under construction 6 planned (surface)	38 mi (61 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	Ferry (under construction)

Light rail[edit]

Agency Name	Train Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Routes	Stations	Track Length	Track Gauge	Mass Transit Connections
Muni Metro		San Francisco	157,400[6]	Yes	6	33 (9 subway, 24 surface) 4 under construction 87 additional surface stops	34.6 mi (55.7 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	BART, Caltrain, and Ferries
San Francisco Cable Car		San Francisco	16,100[6]	Yes	3	52	5.1 mi (8.2 km)	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)	BART, Muni Metro
San Francisco Heritage Streetcars		Market Street Railway, Embarcadero	23,208 (F)[7] N/A (E)	Yes	2	32 (F)	6 mi (9.7 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	BART, Muni Metro, Ferries, and Caltrain
VTA Light Rail		Santa Clara County	30,800[6]	Yes	3	62 (62 surface)	42.2 mi (67.9 km)	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)	ACE, Amtrak, BART(under construction), Caltrain

People Movers[edit]

System	Train Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Routes	Stations	Track Length	Mass Transit Connections
AirTrain		San Francisco International Airport		n/a	2	9	6 mi (9.7 km)	BART
Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line		Oakland International Airport	2,800[6]	Yes	1	2	3.2 mi (5.1 km)	Amtrak, BART

Bus services and stations[edit]

The Transbay Terminal serves as the terminus for long-range bus service (such as Greyhound and BoltBus^[8]) and as a hub for regional bus systems AC Transit (Alameda & Contra Costa counties), WestCAT, SamTrans (San Mateo County), and Golden Gate Transit (Marin and Sonoma Counties).^[9]

Megabus recently^[when?] relaunched intercity bus service in California and Nevada.^[10] San Francisco riders can choose from three routes (SF-San Jose-LA, SF-Oakland-LA, & SF-Sacramento-Reno). The San Francisco stop is located in front of the Caltrain Station. Other intercity bus services include California Shuttle Bus, Hoang Transportation, and USAsia.^[11]

There are several bus stations in the San Francisco Bay Area including Fairfield Transportation Center, Richmond Parkway Transit Center, Naglee Park and Ride, Hercules Transit Center, Curtola Park & Ride, Eastmont Transit Center, San Rafael Transit Center and many bus bays at BART stations.

Major bus agencies[edit]

Agency Name	Bus Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Number of Routes					Mass Transit Connections
					Local/ Basic	Rapid/ Limited	Express/ Commuter	Shuttle	All-Nighter
AC Transit		Entire: Inner East Bay (western Alameda County and western Contra Costa County) Parts of: San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties	215,800[6]	Yes	68	4	29	None	6	Amtrak, BART, Caltrain, ferries and VTA Light Rail
SamTrans		Entire: San Mateo County Parts of: San Francisco and Santa Clara County	41,400[6]	Yes	30	None	1	None	2	BART, Caltrain, and Muni Metro
Muni		Entire: San Francisco Parts of: Marin and San Mateo counties	494,400[6]	Yes	42	5	16	None	10	BART, Caltrain, ferries and Muni Metro
VTA		Entire: Santa Clara County Parts of: Alameda and San Mateo counties	104,700[6]	Yes	54	5	12	12	1	Amtrak, BART, Caltrain and VTA Light Rail
Note: Some routes that operate as one route type may also be listed as another type (e.g. select daytime AC Transit, Muni, and VTA services also operate as All-Nighter routes)

Minor bus agencies[edit]

Agency Name	Bus Example	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Number of Routes					Mass Transit Connections
					Local/ Basic	Rapid/ Limited	Express/ Commuter	Shuttle	All-Nighter
County Connection		Parts of: Contra Costa County (Concord, Martinez, Orinda, San Ramon, Walnut Creek) and Alameda County (Dublin/Pleasanton BART)	11,627[citation needed]	Yes	35	None	7	2	None	Amtrak and BART
Dumbarton Express		Parts of: Alameda County (Fremont, Newark, Union City) and Santa Clara County (Palo Alto)	—	Yes	None	None	3	Yes	None	Connects BART and Caltrain
Emery Go Round		Parts of: Emeryville (MacArthur BART)	—	No (service is free)	6	None	None	None	None	Connects BART and Amtrak
Fairfield and Suisun Transit		Parts of: Sacramento city, and Contra Costa, Yolo, and Solano counties	—	Yes	10	None	4	None	None	Amtrak and BART
Golden Gate Transit		Parts of: San Francisco, and Contra Costa County (El Cerrito, Richmond), Marin County, and Sonoma County (Santa Rosa)	22,106[12]	Yes	20	1	20	None	None	BART and Muni Metro
Healdsburg Transit		Entire: Healdsburg	—	No	1	None	None	1	None
Marin Transit		Entire: Marin County	—	Yes	14	None	None	7	None
Petaluma Transit		Entire: Petaluma	—	Yes	5	None	None	None	None
RidePal		Parts of: Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Francisco counties	—	Yes - ID only	25	None	25	0	None	BART and Caltrain
San Benito County Transit		Entire: San Benito County Parts of: Santa Clara County (Gilroy)	—	No	6	2	None	None	None	Caltrain
San Leandro LINKS		Entire: San Leandro, California	—	No/Free	1	None	None	None	None	BART
Santa Cruz Metro		Entire: Santa Cruz County Parts of: Santa Clara County (San Jose)	—	No	30	5	1	None	None	Amtrak/VTA light rail/Caltrain/ACE at Diridon Station
Santa Rosa CityBus		Entire: Santa Rosa	—	Yes	18	None	None	None	None
SolTrans		Parts of: San Francisco, and Contra Costa and Solano counties	—	Yes	11	None	6	None	None	BART
Sonoma County Transit		Entire: Sonoma County Parts of: Marin County (San Rafael)	—	Yes	20	None	6	None	None
Stanford Marguerite		Entire: Stanford University campus Parts of: Santa Clara County (Palo Alto and Mountain View), San Mateo County (Menlo Park), and Alameda County (Fremont and Union City)	5,300	No/Free	7	3	None	9	3	BART and Caltrain
Tri Delta Transit		Parts of: Alameda County (Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station), Contra Costa County (Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg), and San Joaquin County (Mountain House)	—	Yes	13	None	7	1	None	BART and Amtrak
Union City Transit		Entire: Union City	—	Yes	5	None	None	None	None	BART
Vacaville City Coach		Entire: Vacaville	—	Yes	4	None	None	None	None
VINE		Entire: Napa County Parts of: Solano County (Vallejo) and Sonoma County (Santa Rosa)	—	Yes	12	None	2	4	None	BART
WestCAT		Parts of: San Francisco and Contra Costa County	—	Yes	10	None	4	None	None	Amtrak and BART
WHEELS		Contra Costa County (San Ramon, Walnut Creek) and Alameda County (Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton)	—	Yes	20	1	3	4	None	ACE and BART
Note that some of the bus agencies listed above may have primary operating zones outside of the Bay Area, but serve at least portions of Bay Area regions.

Other transit agencies that serve parts of the Bay Area include San Benito Transit, Stanislaus Regional Transit, San Joaquin RTD, Rio Vista Delta Breeze, Mendocino Transit, and Santa Cruz Metro

Private bus companies put an additional 800 buses, often referred to as tech shuttles, on the road per day. If combined, private shuttles would be the 7th largest transportation provider in the Bay Area. ^[13]

Ferries[edit]

Agency Name	FerryExample	Service Area	Daily Ridership	Clipper?	Routes	Terminals	Mass Transit Connections
Golden Gate Ferry		San Francisco and Marin County	8,204[14]	Yes	3	4	Amtrak, BART, Muni Metro, Muni
San Francisco Bay Ferry		San Francisco, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and Solano County	9,207[14]	Yes	4	9	AC Transit, Muni Metro, Muni, BART

There are also private ferries from Emeryville, Berkeley, and Richmond.

Bike and Scooter Sharing[edit]

A bike share station in San Jose, California.

Ford GoBike (launched as Bay Area Bike Share) is a regional public bicycle sharing system that serves the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, and San Jose.

The bicycles are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone who purchases a membership, with three options, annual fee of US$149, US$20 for three days or US$10 for 24 hours.^[15] Any rider may take unlimited trips of up to 30 minutes, as measured from the time the bike is withdrawn from a dock to the time it is returned. Bikes can be picked up at any of the stations using a key fob or electronic code, and dropping them off at any station. Longer trips incur additional fees starting at US$4 for the first additional half-hour, since the idea of bike sharing is to make bicycles available for short trips.^[16] A replacement fee of $1,200 is charged if a rented bike is lost.^[16]

Several companies also operate dockless bicycle sharing systems in the Bay Area such as Jump Bikes, Lime, and Spin.^[17][18] These dockless systems differ from the Ford GoBike system in that bicycles can be parked freely on the street (or at a bicycle rack in the case of Jump) and do not need to be docked at a designation station. Currently, Jump is the only dockless bicycle sharing company that operates in San Francisco while other competing companies operate dockless systems in other Bay Area cities such as South San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose.

In 2018, several companies started offering dockless scooter-sharing systems in Bay Area cities such as San Francisco and Oakland.^[19][20] These systems offer electric kick scooters for rent, similar to dockless bicycle sharing systems. Some operators, such as Lime, operate both scooter and bicycle sharing systems.

Public Transportation Statistics[edit]

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in San Francisco, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 77 min. 23% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 13 min, while 17% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 9.1 km, while 20% travel for over 12 km in a single direction. ^[21]

Freeways and highways[edit]

Freeways and highways in the San Francisco Bay Area

The Bay Area possesses an extensive freeway and highway system.

Trans-bay crossings[edit]

	Interstate 80 San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge	The western terminus of I-80 is located in San Francisco as James Lick Skyway (Bayshore Freeway), just west of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The interstate continues to the east over the bridge, connecting to Oakland and the north coast of the East Bay as the Eastshore Freeway, and then on to Sacramento, Reno, and New Jersey.
	Interstate 580 Richmond - San Rafael Bridge	This spur route's western terminus is in Marin County. The Interstate crosses the San Pablo Bay over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, goes through Richmond as the John T. Knox Freeway, passes through Oakland as the MacArthur Freeway, then continues to Livermore, through the Altamont Pass to Tracy, where it intersects with Interstate 5, thus providing a link with Southern California.
	Route 92 San Mateo - Hayward Bridge	SR 92's western terminus is in Half Moon Bay. The two-lane highway crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains, connecting to Interstate 280 and U.S. Route 101 as the J. Arthur Younger Freeway, becoming a freeway as it passes through San Mateo before crossing the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to Hayward as Jackson Street.
	Route 84 Dumbarton Bridge	SR 84 begins at Route 1 (at the Pacific Coast) near San Gregorio State Beach, and crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains on a scenic route between La Honda and Woodside as Woodside Road. It then crosses the Bay over the Dumbarton Bridge from Redwood City to Newark. The route then passes through Fremont as Thornton Avenue and Peralta Boulevard, continuing as Niles Canyon Road to Sunol and Livermore as Vallecitos Road and Isabel Avenue, terminating at Interstate 580 as Airway Boulevard.

The Peninsula to the South Bay[edit]

	Interstate 280 Southern, Junipero Serra, & Sinclair Freeways Highway 101 Bayshore & South Valley Freeways	Eight-lane and, in some parts, 10-lane freeways connecting San Francisco to San Jose through the Peninsula. Highway 101 continues south to Gilroy and Salinas, California, before continuing to Los Angeles. For most of its route I-280 runs along the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and is very scenic, while 101 is highly urban.
	Route 1 Cabrillo Highway Route 35 Skyline Boulevard	Two-lane highways also traveling down the Peninsula, SR 1 along the Pacific coast, and SR 35 near the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. SR 1 as Cabrillo Highway connects to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, before continuing to Los Angeles.
	Route 9 Route 17	Highways through the Santa Cruz Mountains, connecting the South Bay to Santa Cruz. Part of SR 17 in San Jose is an 8 lane freeway.
	Route 85 West Valley Freeway Route 237 Southbay Freeway	Six-lane and, in some parts, seven to eight-lane freeways connecting the west Santa Clara Valley to the east Santa Clara Valley, bypassing Downtown San Jose.
	Route 87 Guadalupe Freeway	North-south six-lane freeway entirely in San Jose, connecting San Jose International Airport, Downtown to the Almaden Valley. (formerly the Guadalupe Parkway)
	Route 152	Two-lane highway from Watsonville, crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains to Gilroy, then crosses the Diablo Range through Pacheco Pass to I-5 near Los Banos.
	Route 156	Two-lane highway connecting the Monterey Peninsula from Castroville to northern San Benito County and Route 152.
	Route 82 El Camino Real	Highway running from San Jose to Interstate 280 in San Francisco. It is designated a State Route, although it is more similar to an inner-city boulevard, and contains either 2, 4, or 6 lanes. It runs from Daly City in the north through the Peninsula and beyond.

The freeway system in Santa Clara county is augmented by the Santa Clara County expressway system.

North Bay[edit]

	Highway 101 Redwood Highway Route 1 Shoreline Highway	Continue north of San Francisco, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and connecting San Francisco to Marin and Sonoma counties, and eventually to Oregon. They are concurrent between the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin City
	Interstate 505	This interstate highway provides a direct link from Interstate 80 in Vacaville in Solano County to I-5, bypassing Sacramento.
	Route 29	Four-lane expressway connecting Interstate 80 in Vallejo in Solano County as Sonoma Boulevard to the towns of American Canyon and Napa. North of Napa, SR 29 is a two-lane rural highway through the towns of the Napa Valley, California's Wine Country, to Clear Lake.
	Route 37	Four- and two-lane expressway connecting US 101 in Novato with Interstate 80 in Vallejo, along the northern shore of San Pablo Bay.
	Route 12 Sonoma Highway	A highway connecting Santa Rosa with suburbs to the west and Interstate 80 through Sonoma and Napa to the east.

East Bay[edit]

	Interstates 680 Sinclair Freeway Interstate 880 Nimitz Freeway	Two interstate highways that travel up the East Bay from San Jose, 880 close to the bay to Oakland and 680 inland from San Jose north through Fremont, Pleasanton and Concord; then crosses the Benicia-Martinez Bridge and ends at Interstate 80 in Fairfield.
	Interstate 980 Grove Shafter Freeway Route 24 Grover Shafter Freeway	A freeway entirely in Downtown Oakland and begins at Interstate 880 and travels north to become Route 24 at Interstate 580. The freeway continues north as SR 24, which is a state highway that begins at Interstate 580 in Oakland and travels east through the Caldecott Tunnel to Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek.
	Interstate 205	This interstate highway's western terminus is at Interstate 580 in Alameda County just west of the San Joaquin County line. I-205 heads east through Tracy to I-5, providing access from the Bay Area to Stockton and the northern San Joaquin Valley.
	Route 13 Warren Freeway	A highway entirely in the Oakland Hills and travels north from Interstate 580 to Route 24, where the freeway portion ends. Beyond SR 24, SR 13 is Berkeley's Ashby Avenue.
	Interstate 238 Route 238 Mission Boulevard	An arterial from Fremont to Hayward, along the base of the hills, then becomes a freeway near Oakland.
	Route 4 John Muir Parkway California Delta Highway	Western terminus at Interstate 80 in Hercules, travels east through Martinez, Pittsburg, and Antioch, where the freeway portion ends. The highway continues to Brentwood and east to Stockton.

Named interchanges[edit]

The Alemany Maze is the interchange between the James Lick Freeway (U.S. Route 101) and Interstate 280.

The MacArthur Maze is the interchange between the Eastshore Freeway, Nimitz Freeway, and MacArthur Freeway at the east end of the Bay Bridge.

The Joe Colla Interchange is the interchange between US 101, I-280, and I-680. Both I-280 and I-680's southern termini is located as this interchange.^[22]

San Francisco streets[edit]

Due to its unique geography, and the freeway revolts of the late 1950s,^[23] San Francisco is one of the few American cities with arterial thoroughfares instead of having numerous highways within the city.^{[citation needed]}

The Bay Bridge offers the only direct automobile connection from San Francisco to the East Bay.

Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay. U.S. Route 101 connects to the western terminus of Interstate 80 and provides access to the south of the city along San Francisco Bay toward Silicon Valley. Northward, the routing for U.S. 101 uses arterial streets Mission Street (northbound) and South Van Ness Avenue (southbound), Van Ness Avenue, Lombard Street, Richardson Avenue, and Doyle Drive to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge, the only direct automobile link to Marin County and the North Bay.^{[citation needed]}

The Golden Gate Bridge is the only road connection from San Francisco to the North Bay.

State Route 1 also enters San Francisco from the north via the Golden Gate Bridge, but turns south away from the routing of U.S. 101, first onto Park Presidio Blvd through Golden Gate Park, and then bisecting the west side of the city as the 19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare, joining with Interstate 280 at the city's southern border. Interstate 280 continues south from San Francisco. Interstate 280 also turns to the east along the southern edge of the city, terminating just south of the Bay Bridge in the South of Market neighborhood. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, city leaders decided to demolish the Embarcadero Freeway, and a portion of the Central Freeway, converting them into street-level boulevards.^[23]

State Route 35 enters the city from the south as Skyline Boulevard, following city streets until it terminates at its intersection with Highway 1. State Route 82 enters San Francisco from the south as Mission Street, following the path of the historic El Camino Real and terminating shortly thereafter at its junction with 280. Major east–west thoroughfares include Geary Boulevard, the Lincoln Way/Fell Street corridor, and Market Street/Portola Drive.^{[citation needed]}

The Western Terminus of the historic transcontinental Lincoln Highway, the first road across America, is in San Francisco's Lincoln Park.^{[citation needed]}

San Francisco Bay Trail[edit]

The San Francisco Bay Trail alignment.

The San Francisco Bay Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian trail that will eventually allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2016, 350 miles (560 km) of trail have been completed, while the full plan calls for a trail over 500 miles (805 km) long that link the shoreline of nine counties, passing through 47 cities and crossing seven toll bridges. Sections of the Bay Trail exist in all nine Bay Area counties. The longest continuous segments include 26 miles (41 km) primarily on gravel levees between East Palo Alto and San Jose in Santa Clara County; 25 miles (40 km) in San Mateo County between Millbrae and San Carlos; 17 miles (27 km) in central Alameda County from San Leandro to Hayward; and 15 miles (24 km) along the shoreline and on city streets through Richmond in Contra Costa County. The northernmost trail section passes through San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Bridges[edit]

(1) Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, (2) Golden Gate Bridge, (3) San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, (4) San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, (5) Dumbarton Bridge, (6) Carquinez Bridge, (7) Benicia-Martinez Bridge, (8) Antioch Bridge

Due to the central location of the San Francisco Bay, eight toll bridges cross the Bay or Bay tributaries. Each of the bridges collect separate tolls, and all of them accept payment through FasTrak, an electronic toll collection system used in the state of California. Seven of these eight bridges are owned directly by the State of California, while the Golden Gate Bridge is owned and operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.^[24]

Bridge Name	Picture	Connects	Length	Highway
Antioch Bridge		Antioch in Contra Costa County with Sacramento County	1.8 mi (2.9 km)	SR 160
Benicia-Martinez Bridge		Solano County with Contra Costa County	1.7 mi (2.7 km)	I-680
Carquinez Bridge		Vallejo in Solano County with Crockett in Contra Costa County	0.66 mi (1.06 km)	I-80
Dumbarton Bridge		Menlo Park in San Mateo County with Fremont in Alameda County	1.63 mi (2.62 km)	SR 84
Golden Gate Bridge		San Francisco with Marin County	1.7 mi (2.7 km)	US 101
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge		Richmond in Contra Costa County with San Rafael in Marin County	5.5 mi (8.9 km)	I-580
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge		San Francisco with Oakland, California and the East Bay	4.46 mi (7.18 km)	I-80
San Mateo-Hayward Bridge		San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay	7 mi (11 km)	SR 92

Seaports[edit]

The Port of San Francisco was once the largest and busiest seaport on the West Coast. It featured rows of piers perpendicular to the shore, where cargo from the moored ships was handled by cranes and manual labor and transported to nearby warehouses. The port handled cargo to and from trans-Pacific and Atlantic destinations, and was the West Coast center of the lumber trade. The 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike, an important episode in the history of the American labor movement, brought most ports to a standstill. The advent of container shipping made pier-based ports obsolete, and most commercial berths moved to the Port of Oakland and Port of Richmond. A few active berths specializing in break bulk cargo remain alongside the Islais Creek Channel.^{[citation needed]}

The port currently uses Pier 35 to handle the 60–80 cruise ship calls and 200,000 passengers that come to San Francisco.^[25] Itineraries from San Francisco usually include round trip cruises to Alaska and Mexico. The James R. Herman Cruise Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened in 2014 as a replacement. The previous primary terminal at Pier 35 had neither the sufficient capacity to allow for the increasing length and passenger capacity of new cruise ships nor the amenities needed for an international cruise terminal.^[26]

On March 16, 2013, Princess Cruises Grand Princess became the first ship to home port in San Francisco year round. The ship offers cruises to Alaska, California Coasts, Hawaii, and Mexico. Grand Princess will be stationed in San Francisco until April 2014. Princess will also operate other ships during the summer of 2014, making it the only cruise line home porting year round in San Francisco.^[27]

See also[edit]

• List of San Francisco Bay Area trains

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bay Area public transit.

• Bay Area Shuttles directory


• Interstate-Guide.com


• West Coast AA Roads (San Francisco Bay Areas)


• Live Toll Prices for San Francisco Bay Area Bridges