Six commercial airlines schedule direct and connecting flights into South Bend at the South Bend Regional Airport from all major United States cities and points abroad. The airport, which is the second-busiest in Indiana, is the only one in the nation to have developed a multimodal transportation center offering air, intercity rail, and interstate bus service at one convenient location. In 1999 the airport created a Master Plan to further develop the airport; the first phase of the plan, adding 1,300 feet of pavement to its main runway and also lengthening two adjacent taxi runways, was completed in 2002. The closest major airport is O'Hare in Chicago, about 120 miles away.
Passenger rail transportation is available by Amtrak from Boston, New York, and Chicago. The South Shore Line, the nation's only remaining interurban rail service, connects the Chicago Loop with South Bend and Mishawaka, making seven daily trips on weekdays and nine on weekends.
An efficient highway system—including Interstate 80/90 (the Indiana Toll Road,) running east/west; U.S. 6, 20, and 31; and State Routes 2, 4, 23, 104, 331, and 933—affords access into the South Bend metropolitan area.
South Bend is laid out on a grid system, the main thoroughfares within the city being north-south Main Street and Michigan Street (U.S. 31) and east-west Colfax Avenue (U.S. 20).
Transpo, the municipal bus service, schedules regular routes in both South Bend and Mishawaka. Transpo Access is available for the elderly and handicapped.