| Transportation In Seattle |
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Because of the Isthmus -like geography of the city (wedged between Lake Washington and Puget Sound ), and the concentration of jobs in certain parts of Seattle, much of the movement in the Seattle Metropolitan Area is through Seattle itself. North-south transportation is highly dependent on Interstate 5 , which connects most of the major cities on the Puget Sound with Portland, Oregon , and British Columbia Provincial Highway 99 , which leads to Vancouver . Also heavily used is Washington State Route 99 , which includes the Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle. Because of seismic instability, there are plans to rebuild the viaduct or replace it with a tunnel. Transportation to and from the east is via Washington State Route 520 's Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and Interstate 90 's Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Third Lake Washington Bridge , all over Lake Washington . Those bridges are the first, second, and fifth longest Floating Bridge s in the world, respectively. Washington State Route 522 connects Seattle to its northeastern suburbs. Unlike most North American cities, water transportation remains important. Washington State Ferries , the largest ferry system in the United States and the third largest in the world, operates a passenger-only ferry from Colman Dock in Downtown to Vashon Island , car ferries from Colman Dock to Bainbridge Island and to Bremerton , and a car ferry from West Seattle to Vashon Island to Southworth . Seattle was once home to the '' Kalakala '', a streamlined Art Deco -style ferry that plied the waters from the 1930s to the 1960s . The ship has since fallen into disrepair. Seattle contains most of , the Coast Starlight , and the Empire Builder . PUBLIC TRANSIT Two Bus systems serve Seattle. They are operated by King County's Metro Transit and the regional organization Sound Transit . Sound Transit is the regional transit organization, charged by voters to build a region system of light rail, express busses, and commuter rail. Sound transit operates a number of regional bus routes and commuter rail lines linking Seattle to the South with Tacoma and north with Everett. A 16.7 mile light rail line from downtown Seattle to Sea-tac Airport will come online in 2009. Future extensions of this initial line are planned north from the University of Washington to Northgate; east across Lake Washington to Bellevue ; and south to Tacoma . The Metro Bus Tunnel runs the length of Downtown . It was formerly only used by buses, but is currently closed and is being renovated for simultaneous use both by buses and light rail. The Seattle Center Monorail , constructed for the Century 21 Exposition , connects Downtown and Seattle Center . Over 15,000 Seattleites are members of the Car Sharing program Flexcar . While not all members are frequent users, As Of September 2004 the use of these shared cars has been substantial enough to justify the purchase of over 150 cars and other light vehicles for the program, with an additional vehicle purchased approximately every ten days. EXTERNAL LINKS
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