Sound Transit’s crossing of Lake Washington not only unites east with west, but creates light rail access in two communities and an easy ride to nearly three dozen other stations.

The new Judkins Park and Mercer Island stations, where passenger service begins around 10 a.m. Saturday, March 28, connect with regional bike trails and popular bus lines, along with neighborhoods that have recently become more dense with apartments.

The new 2 Line stations will especially benefit University of Washington staff and students, who can get aboard and stay on the same railcar through downtown Seattle until they reach UW Station.

Whether you live near the stations or are just passing through, Judkins Park and Mercer Island stations are worth a visit.

A light rail train on a practice run arrives at Judkins Park Station, whose upper entrance sits along 23rd Avenue South. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)

Judkins Park

Seattle’s newest train stop, between the Central District and Rainier Valley, leans into its hillside terrain with one entrance above the tracks next to Jimi Hendrix Park, and the other entrance, below track level along Rainier Avenue South.

A few steps from the upper-level entrance, you’ll find the Northwest African American Museum, the Judkins Park playfields, a spray feature and trails. The Route 48 bus provides a direct transfer from trains to the Central District, including Washington Middle School and Garfield High School, while Route 8 to Seattle Center will pass Judkins Park Station starting Saturday.

A street fair is planned opening day at Sam Smith Park, a couple minutes’ walk east.

What to know about Judkins Park, Mercer Island stations

Here’s more on what you’ll find at light rail’s two newest stations.

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Sources: Esri, Sound Transit (Reporting by Mike Lindblom, map by Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times)

Seattle recently narrowed the formerly speedy 23rd Avenue South, adding curb bulbs and a pedestrian-activated crosswalk stoplight near the station entrance.

Down below, the Route 7 bus, which already serves 11,000 daily passengers, stops here, creates a bus-rail transfer option between Rainier Valley and the Eastside.

Bicyclists can cruise directly from either station lobby to the Mountains to Sound/ Interstate 90 bike trail, either through Mount Baker to the lake, or west to Beacon Hill and Daejeon Park pagoda.

Artist Barbara Earl Thomas, raised in South Seattle, fashioned cut-paper images of author Charles Johnson and playwright August Wilson, along with birds, converted to steel and embedded in station glass.

Artwork on platform windscreens, by Seattle artist Barbara Earl Thomas, tells stories in pictures at Judkins Park Station. Thomas translated her cut-paper images into glass and metal. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)

Portraits of Hendrix at each entrance, composed of halftone dots by New York artist Hank Willis Thomas, are landmarks not just for neighbors, but anyone who seeks respite here from Seattle’s crosstown traffic.

Mercer Island

The wealthy community of 25,000 people, known as “The Rock,” will open in a new way to neighbors across the region, with train service near its small downtown.

Mercer Island’s Chamber of Commerce will host opening day food and entertainment.

The 2 Line stops at ground level, in a cut about midway across the island, where track ties rest mostly upon gravel in the median of I-90 near North Mercer Way. Residents of midrise apartments can easily walk there, and take a 27-minute light rail ride to the University of Washington, or 10 minutes east to downtown Bellevue.

Artwork by Seattle artist Beliz Brother hangs over a Mercer Island Station entrance, suggesting a boat bobbing on the water. Tom Aichele, facilities area manager for Sound Transit, left, and Rachelle Cunningham, a Sound Transit spokesperson, stand below. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)

The blue frame of a canoe dangles over the east stairs, and oars above the west stairs. These artworks, by Seattle artist Beliz Brother, celebrate Mercer Island transportation before the first floating bridge in 1940.

Passenger entrances along 77th and 80th avenues Southeast are reachable by sidewalks or Mercer Island bus routes. The 554 express bus connects to Bellevue College and Issaquah. Each entrance includes a curvy sidewalk surrounded by plants, separate from vehicle traffic. A passenger drop-off zone is available along 77th Avenue.

The regional I-90 bike route conveniently passes the park-and-ride, but all that synergy causes a sidewalk pinch point where cyclists, walkers, and bus riders must stay alert to avoid collisions.

Mercer Island’s park-and-ride garage is mostly full already, with just bus customers. Commuters from places like Issaquah, Factoria and Renton will be better off parking at South Bellevue Station, which provides more than 1,500 stalls near the I-405/I-90 junction.

A train on a practice run at Mercer Island Station. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)

The region’s new junction

These new tracks wind up at International District/Chinatown Station in Seattle, where Eastside trains, known as the 2 Line, will turn north and share tracks with the north-south 1 Line, all the way to Lynnwood. People going to Rainier Valley, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and beyond must change here to a southbound 1 Line train.

That creates a sudden two-line hub uniting 58 track miles and more pedestrians. International District/Chinatown Station, which already serves an average 6,000 daily boardings and an equal number of people getting off a train, is the nearest stop to Lumen Field, Sounder commuter rail, and Amtrak at King Street Station. New elevators and escalators are being installed, and worn-out benches were recently replaced, but Sound Transit hasn’t renovated the dingy and partly dilapidated brick plaza, built in 1990, between its trains and historic Chinatown Gate.