page_title: Omaha, Nebraska
section_title: Transportation
hierarchical_section_title: Omaha, Nebraska / Infrastructure / Transportation
caption_attribution_description: The Eppley Airfield (OMA) is located just a few miles northeast of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Carter Lake is shown just behind the main terminal to the east.
context_page_description: Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 40th-largest city, Omaha's 2019 estimated population was 478,192.
  Omaha is the anchor of the eight-county, bi-state Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. The Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 59th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 944,316. The Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area encompasses the Omaha-Council Bluffs MSA as well as the separate Fremont, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of the entirety of Dodge County, Nebraska. The total population of the CSA was 970,023 based on 2017 estimates. Approximately 1.3 million people reside within the Greater Omaha area, within a 50 mi radius of Downtown Omaha.
  Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854, when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Missouri River, and a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West".
context_section_description: Omaha's central role in the history of transportation across America earned it the nickname "Gate City of the West." Despite President Lincoln's decree that Council Bluffs, Iowa, be the starting point for the Union Pacific Railroad, construction began from Omaha on the eastern portion of the first transcontinental railroad. By the middle of the 20th century, nearly every major railroad served Omaha.
  Today, the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District celebrates this connection, along with the listing of the Burlington Train Station and the Union Station on the National Register of Historic Places. First housed in the former Herndon House, the Union Pacific Railroad's corporate headquarters have been in Omaha since the company began. Their new headquarters, the Union Pacific Center, opened in Downtown Omaha in 2004.
  Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service through Omaha. The Greyhound Lines terminal is at 1601 Jackson St. in downtown Omaha. Megabus has a stop at Crossroads Mall – N 72nd St. between Dodge St. and Cass St. – and provides service to Des Moines, Iowa City, and Chicago. Metro Transit, previously known as Metro Area Transit, is the local bus system.
  Omaha's position as a transportation center was finalized with the 1872 opening of the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge that linked the transcontinental railroad to the railroads terminating in Council Bluffs. In 1888, the first road bridge, the Douglas Street Bridge, opened. In the 1890s, the Illinois Central drawbridge opened as the largest bridge of its type in the world. Omaha's Missouri River road bridges are now entering their second generation, including the Works Progress Administration-financed South Omaha Bridge, now called Veteran's Memorial Bridge, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, Omaha and Council Bluffs announced joint plans to build the Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge, which opened in 2008.
  Today, the primary mode of transportation in Omaha is by automobile, with I-80, I-480, I-680, I-29, and U.S. Route 75 (JFK Freeway and North Freeway) providing freeway service across the metropolitan area. The expressway along West Dodge Road (U.S. Route 6 and Nebraska Link 28B) and U.S. Route 275 has been upgraded to freeway standards from I-680 to Fremont. City owned Metro Transit, formerly as MAT Metro Area Transit, provides public bus service to hundreds of locations throughout the Metro.
  A 2017 study by Walk Score ranked Omaha 26th most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities. Of the top 50 most walkable cities only one, Omaha, Nebraska, saw its Walk Score decline, and it only decreased 0.3 points from last year. There is an extensive trail system throughout the city for walkers, runners, bicyclists, and other pedestrian modes of transportation.
  Omaha is laid out on a grid plan, with 12 blocks to the mile with a north-to-south house numbering system. Omaha is the location of a historic boulevard system designed by H.W.S. Cleveland who sought to combine the beauty of parks with the pleasure of driving cars. The historic Florence and Fontenelle Boulevards, as well as the modern Sorenson Parkway, are important elements in this system.
  Eppley Airfield, Omaha's airport, serves the region with over 5 million passengers in 2018. United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, and Frontier Airlines, serve the airport with direct and connecting service. As of 2018, the airport has non-stop service to 34 destinations. General aviation airports that serve the area include the Millard Municipal Airport, North Omaha Airport and the Council Bluffs Airport. Offutt Air Force Base continues to serve as a military airbase; it is at the southern edge of Bellevue, which in turn lies immediately south of Omaha.
caption: Omaha's Eppley Airfield in East Omaha
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