There’s a particular kind of optimism and happiness you feel when a city decides to connect itself to its own future. World-class cities invest in the invisible things that make everything else possible. They make it easier for ideas to collide, for workers to access opportunity, for culture to flow.

The East–West light rail Crosslake Connection, which opened on March 28 and stretches across Lake Washington to Bellevue and on to Redmond, does exactly that. It’s not just another transit project; it’s a masterpiece, really. Quietly confident and distinctly “Seattle” in the way that we are done thinking of ourselves as a collection of disparate neighborhoods—and ready to act like a truly unified region.

For decades, Lake Washington has been both a sort of hallmark and a separator. It defined us (think Seafair, the Blue Angels, hydroplane races), but it also divided daily life into “this side” and “that side.” For some, it also divided opportunity and talent. Now, in far less time than it takes to get your car loaded up, out of the garage, through the Mercer mess, and onto the freeway, you can quietly (and I mean quietly) glide from downtown Seattle to the Eastside sans anxiety. That’s transformative. That’s life changing.

The Sound Transit 2 Line—the world’s first light rail across a floating bridge—connects two of the most innovative economic centers in the country and says simply: now we are one.

And this is how cities grow up. Here, at Seattle magazine, we’ve always believed Seattle could stand with the great cities of the world. Projects like this are how that dream materializes.