Kirkland to mercer island communte? (Seattle, Bellevue: school, shopping mall, live)

[eiremise]

What would the communte from Kirkland to Mercer Island be like. Specifically for a school run - our school is locate there and we are currently looking at Bellevue, however we visited Kirkland today and really liked it.
Thanks in advance to all you experts who take the time to read and help us newbies out!!!
Regards,
N.

[allforcats]

OMG I'm a sucker for flattery!!
Okay. Kirkland is lovely, and a delightful place to live.

The one thing you DON'T want to plan on is driving 405 north or south from 6:30AM to 9:00AM and 3:00PM to 6:30PM Monday through Friday. It is a veritable parking lot. It is stop stop then go one foot then stop, etc.

I know this route well, so this is what I would suggest:
From NE 68th or the Houghton neighborhood, take Lakeview Drive south -- or from Central Way take Lake St S. which merges into Lakeview. Cross SR520, the road becomes Bellevue Way NE (because you've crossed into Bellevue), take that south all the way to I90, go west (toward Seattle and Mercer Island), stay in the far right lane and before you blink your eyes you're at the first Mercer Island exit!

From NE 68th at the railroad bridge just west of the shopping mall, the drive at, say, 7AM on a weekday to the first Mercer Island exit should take you about 20-25 minutes. Much of the distance there are no stoplights (I am a volunteer at MEOW, the famous cat rescue in that shopping mall near the RR bridge, so I've done this run a thousand times at all times of the day.)

Hope that helps!