Seattle light rail linked to deaths of 2,000 fish in Lake Washington

Representative imageWhen Sound Transit launched light rail service across the I-90 floating bridge in March 2026, it was celebrated as a major milestone for Seattle’s transit network. For the first time, trains connected downtown Seattle to the Eastside over Lake Washington, promising faster commutes and reduced traffic. Five months later, that success story has been complicated by an unexpected environmental problem. Around 2,000 fish have been found dead near electrical cables and equipment that hang beneath the bridge into the lake. As reported by Axios Seattle, the deaths have raised concerns among biologists, regulators and local residents about how transit infrastructure interacts with one of the region’s most important bodies of water.A new rail line over a sensitive lakeThe I-90 fl