Montlake Cut (artificial canal linking Lake Washington and Lake Union)

The Montlake Cut is the man-made channel excavated in the 1910s that links Lake Washington to Lake Union and is a central segment of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, a major engineered alteration of Seattle's natural waterways. The cut created Portage Bay and permanently changed local hydrology and navigation by allowing vessels to pass between the lakes and Puget Sound via the canal and locks. The Montlake Bridge spans the cut where the channel separates the University District from Montlake.