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The Chesapeake Bay forms a link in the Intracoastal Waterway, connecting the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (linking the bay to the Delaware River) with the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal (linking the bay, via the Elizabeth River, to the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina).
During the later half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, the bay was plied by passenger steamships and packet boat lines connecting the various cities on it, notably the Baltimore Steam Packet Company.
In the later twentieth century, a series of road crossings were built. One was The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, connecting Virginia's eastern shore with its mainland and is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long; it has trestle bridges as well as two stretches of two-mile (3 km)-long tunnels which allow unimpeded shipping; the bridge is supported by four 5.25-acre (21,200 m2) man-made islands.
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