The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board recently voted on whether or not to approve the K Line northern extension project that will connect San Vicente to Fairfax. The project is expected to boost ridership by nearly 100,000 daily users while linking key job centers and destinations, further strengthening the region’s growing light rail network.

Experts say the expansion could reshape how Angelenos navigate the city. Jacob Wasserman of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies shared with Los Angeles Times that the project could help create a more interconnected rail grid, allowing riders to travel across Los Angeles with fewer transfers.

“It’s really going to change people’s geography of L.A.” Wasserman said of the K line extension. “It’s creating this nice grid network of rail, so that you can get anywhere in the city with ideally just one transfer at most by rail. … It’ll change people’s mental model of the city where they live or work.”

The project has faced opposition from some residents concerned about tunneling beneath residential neighborhoods. Transit officials have emphasized that the tunnels will be constructed deep underground and are not expected to impact surface properties. Part of the project’s first phase is not set to begin for nearly 15 years, in 2041.