San Francisco, California

: San Francisco redirects here. For other uses, see San Francisco (disambiguation).

Transportation

Roads and highways

Because of its unique geography —making "beltways" somewhat impractical— and the "Freeway Revolt" of the late 1950's, San Francisco is one of the few cities in the US including Boston and New York City that has opted for European style arterial thoroughfares instead of a large network of major highways.

Related Topics:
Freeway Revolt - Boston - New York City - Highways

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From San Francisco, the Bay Bridge is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay. Similarly, the Golden Gate Bridge is the only direct road access to Marin County.

Related Topics:
Bay Bridge - Golden Gate Bridge - Marin County

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The major highways in San Francisco are Interstate 80 which begins at the Bay Bridge and goes eastbound; US 101 which extends Interstate 80 to the south towards Silicon Valley. Northbound, US 101 uses arterial streets, Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street to the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin County. Interstate 280 runs from South of Market to the west, and then south towards Silicon Valley and Highway 1 which bisects the westside of the city as a arterial thoroughfare.

Related Topics:
Interstate 80 - US 101 - Silicon Valley - Van Ness Avenue - Lombard Street - Golden Gate Bridge - Marin County - Interstate 280 - Highway 1

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Public transportation

San Francisco has the most extensive public transit system on the West Coast and one of the most diverse in the country.

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Muni is the city-owned public transit system which operates the Muni Metro light rail system, the F Market heritage streetcar line and the famous San Francisco cable car system (see above), together with buses and trolleybuses. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the regional transit system, which connects San Francisco with the East Bay through an underwater tunnel (the Transbay Tube), and Northern San Mateo County, California communities and San Francisco International Airport on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Related Topics:
Muni - Muni Metro light rail system - F Market heritage streetcar line - San Francisco cable car system - Bus - Trolleybus - BART - East Bay - San Mateo County, California - San Francisco International Airport - San Francisco Peninsula

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In addition, a frequent commuter rail service, Caltrain, operates between San Francisco, San Jose, California and Gilroy, California. A small fleet of commuter ferries operate from the Embarcadero to points in Marin County, Oakland, and north to Vallejo in Solano County.

Related Topics:
Commuter rail service - Caltrain - San Jose, California - Gilroy, California - Ferries - Embarcadero - Marin County - Oakland - Vallejo - Solano County

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Airports

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is located 12.9 km (8 miles) south of the city in San Mateo County on a landfill extension into the San Francisco Bay. It is the only major international hub airport in California other than LAX in Los Angeles. During the late 1990s economic boom, SFO was the sixth busiest international airport in the world, but has since fallen off of the top ten during the economic depression of 2000-2001. Rail extensions there include BART and Caltrain via BART at nearby Millbrae, California.

Related Topics:
San Francisco International Airport - San Mateo County - San Francisco Bay - LAX - Los Angeles - BART - Caltrain - Millbrae, California

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Other large airports in the region include Oakland International Airport (OAK), 32.2 km (20 miles) east of San Francisco and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), 70.8 km (44 miles) southwest of San Francisco.

Related Topics:
Oakland International Airport - Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport

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Seaports

The Port of San Francisco was once the largest and busiest seaport on the west coast. The advent of container shipping made San Francisco's pier based port obsolete, as much of the city's container traffic is now limited to a small port in the south-east corner of the city, or sent across the bay to the Port of Oakland. Many of the piers remained derelict for years until recently, when the port converted many of the piers to office space and sold them. Most of the port's activities are now mostly for commuter ferries that leave from the Ferry Building, cruise ship docking, and tourism. There are now plans in the works to build a major cruise ship terminal/mall similar to Pier 39.

Related Topics:
Port of San Francisco - Container shipping - Port of Oakland - Ferries - Ferry Building - Pier 39

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