The Link Light Rail is expected to expand to Mercer Island by March 28, 2026.
This expansion is called the Crosslake Connection and would connect Mercer Island to the rest of the Link light rail stations. This allows students to use a new form of transportation to get to and from school.
Northwest Yeshiva High School junior Daniel Galili takes the bus from school to his home in Kirkland. He says the expansion would “significantly” shorten his commute.
“It’s a 40-minute drive,” Galili said. “My mom doesn’t have the time.”
Another NYHS junior, Abby Carr, who lives in South Bellevue, says, “It would make my commute home more convenient.”
The one line of the light rail runs from Federal Way to Everett.
Natalie Aronov says that the Crosslake expansion would be “nice because I would have to take less buses sometimes.”
Seattle Metro had 151 million trips in 2024, which was a 12 percent increase over the year before, according to The Seattle Times.
According to the Urbanist, the average ridership of Line 2, which runs from downtown Redmond to south Bellevue, was nearly 11,000 passengers per day.
Another person who plans to use the Eastlake expansion is Nicole Lis, a NYHS freshman who lives in Edmonds. Currently, her father picks her up from school; however, she expects to use the Light Rail when it opens up.
Lis uses the carpool van, which is “fine, I just have to wait around a lot.” The carpool van is driven by Andy Kaplan, NYHS English and music teacher. The van picks up and drops off students in the North End.
“We haven’t officially decided on anything,” Kaplan said. “It may give everyone the option of simply taking the train on the way to Mercer Island, which will allow us to avoid the gigantic amount of traffic that we currently endure.”
This story appeared in Northwest Yeshiva High School’s the Mane Idea on March 10, 2026.
