State Road A1A (SR A1A) is a north-south Florida State Road that runs mostly along the Atlantic Ocean, with sections from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. It is the main road through most oceanfront towns. Part of SR A1A is designated the A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway, a National Scenic Byway. A portion of A1A that passes through Volusia County is designated the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail, a Florida Scenic Highway. It is also called the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway from State Road 510 at Wabasso Beach to U.S. Route 1 in Cocoa.
The designation is unique: other than SR A1A Alternate (now SR 811, CR 707, SR 732, and an extension of SR 842), only two other Florida state roads have begun with a letter: SR A19A (now a loop of SR 693-SR 699-SR 682 near St. Petersburg), and SR G1A (now SR 300).
The road was assigned the number 1 in the 1945 renumbering, mostly replacing the former State Road 140 designation. The number reflected its location in the new grid as the easternmost major north-south road. About a year and a half later, in November 1946, the State Road Board resolved to renumber the route due to confusion with the parallel U.S. Highway 1. The new designation, A1A, was chosen to keep the number 1 in its place in the grid.
Route description
SR A1A is heavily associated with Florida beach culture and is known for its lush tropical and subtropical scenery and ocean vistas. In many places, the highway runs directly along the waterfront of the Atlantic Ocean, but in other places, it runs one to five blocks inland from the beachfront. For most of its length, A1A runs along Florida's East Coast Barrier Islands, separated from the mainland of the state by the Intracoastal Waterway. Because of the proximity of the highway to the ocean and its susceptibility to storm surges, sections of A1A are often closed or damaged by hurricanes and tropical storms.
A1A also has been a backbone of Florida's Spring Break serving as "the strip" in both Fort Lauderdale - a popular spring break destination during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s - and Daytona Beach, which became a popular destination for college spring breaks during the 1970s.
The southern terminus of SR A1A is at the southern end of Bertha Street, where SR A1A begins as a two-lane, then a four-lane highway along the Straits of Florida in Key West, known locally as South Roosevelt Boulevard. The road heads east past East Martello Tower and Key West International Airport, before curving north with an intersection with CR 5A (Flagler Avenue), followed by the northern terminus of the Key West section of SR A1A, U.S. Route 1 and State Road 5 (the Overseas Highway). Running along the south shore of Key West, SR A1A is the southmost numbered highway in the lower 48 states.
SR A1A reappears at Interstate 395 and US 1 in Miami, beginning at MacArthur Causeway before becoming Collins Avenue at Fifth Street in Miami Beach (or, in small segments, Harding Avenue, Abbott Avenue, or Indian Creek Drive), serving as one of Miami Beach's main north -- south thoroughfares. Just north in the town of Surfside, the northbound is Collins Avenue, and the southbound is Harding Avenue. In Bal Harbour it is called Bal Harbour Boulevard. In Golden Beach it is called Ocean Boulevard.
It serves as the main road throughout much of the exclusive Palm Beach, further to the north.
In the area of Vero Beach, A1A is called the Robert C. Spillman Memorial Highway, and it spans Sebastian Inlet at the Sebastian Inlet Bridge.
A1A next passes just to the west of Cape Canaveral and the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Two miles of A1A were used as part of the well-known Daytona Beach Road Course.
A1A also passes through St. Augustine, the oldest continuously-inhabited city on the mainland of the United States.
A1A is called 3rd Street in Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach.
Just south of Atlantic Beach, A1A turns inland for several blocks, following Atlantic blvd, before resuming a northward course along Mayport Road that ends at the St. Johns River. A ferry takes traffic to the northern section of A1A that continues along the coast to just south of Fort Clinch State Park on the estuary of the Saint Mary's River. At that point A1A hooks back south to Fernandina Beach and then turns west, going inland 20 miles through Yulee and crossing I-95 and U.S. Highway 17. It ends at U.S. Highway 1, U.S. Highway 23, and U.S. Highway 301 in Callahan, Florida. This section west of Fernandina Beach, is also marked as SR 200, but SR A1A signs are displayed at every cluster of signs, though a designated direction is only above the SR 200 signs.
History
Pre-1945 alignment
Prior to the 1945 renumbering, the route that became SR 1 had the following numbers:
- SR 182 from Miami to Miami Beach
- SR 140 from Miami Beach to Dania Beach
- SR 178 from Dania Beach to Dania
- SR 177 from downtown Fort Lauderdale east to the Atlantic Ocean
- SR 140 from the Atlantic Ocean in Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach
- SR 305 from Palm Beach to West Palm Beach
- SR 25 from Palm Beach to West Palm Beach
- SR 196 from Lake Park to south of Jupiter
- SR 176 from North Palm Beach to Jupiter
- SR 200 from south of Jupiter to Jupiter
- SR 140 from Jupiter to Stuart
- SR 140 from north of Stuart to Jensen Beach
- SR 224 from Jensen Beach east to the Atlantic Ocean
- unnumbered from the Atlantic Ocean east of Jensen Beach to the Martin/St. Lucie County line
- SR 332 from the Martin/St. Lucie County line to the Atlantic Ocean east of Fort Pierce
- SR 559 from the Martin/St. Lucie County line (?) to Fort Pierce
- SR 162 from the Atlantic Ocean east of Fort Pierce to Fort Pierce
- SR 140 north of Fort Pierce
- SR 559 from Fort Pierce to Vero Beach
- SR 140 from Vero Beach to near Canaveral Harbor
- SR 252 from Vero Beach to Wabasso Beach
- SR 273 from near Canaveral Harbor to north of Canaveral
- SR 140 from north of Canaveral to New Smyrna Beach
- SR 119 southwest of Titusville Beach
- SR 140 from Ponce Inlet to St. Augustine
- SR 21 in Daytona Beach
- SR 468 in Ormond Beach
- SR 140 from St. Augustine to Jacksonville
Initial alignment
SR 1 was defined in the 1945 renumbering as:
- From the intersection of 13th St. and SR 5 in Miami east along 13th St. and across the 13th St. Causeway (now called the MacArthur Causeway) to Miami Beach, then northerly along the Ocean Route via Surfside and Hallandale to a point on SR 5 in Dania.
- From the intersection of East Las Olas Boulevard and SR 5 in Ft. Lauderdale, east along East Las Olas Blvd.; then across New River Sound, then northerly via Deerfield Beach - Boca Raton - Lake Worth to a point on SR 5 in West Palm Beach.
- Also from the intersection of Southern Blvd. and SR 5 in West Palm Beach east across Lake Worth to a junction with SR 1 in Palm Beach.
- From the intersection of Park Ave. and SR 5 in Lake Park, west on Park Ave. to 10th St., thence northerly via Jupiter to a junction with SR 5 in Stuart.
- From a point on SR 5 north of St. Lucie River in Stuart, then northeasterly via Jensen and across the Indian River, then northwesterly to a junction with SR 5 in Ft. Pierce.
- From an intersection with SR 5 in Ft. Pierce northerly to a junction with SR 605, thence easterly across the Indian River, thence northerly via Vero Beach, Melbourne Beach, Cocoa Beach, Canaveral, and Titusville Beach to a junction with SR 5 in New Smyrna Beach.
- Also a leg running northwesterly from a point on SR 1 approximately two miles south of Titusville Beach to a junction with SR 402 approximately one mile west of Titusville Beach in Brevard County.
- From a point approximately nine miles south of Daytona Beach northwesterly via Daytona Beach, Ormond, and Flagler Beach to a junction with SR 5 in St. Augustine.
- Also at the intersection of SR 5 and SR 600, east on Volusia Ave., then north on North Beach St., then east on a bridge across the Halifax River and on Broadway to a junction with SR 1, all in Daytona Beach.
- Also at the intersection Granada Ave. and SR 5, east on Granada Ave. across the Halifax River to a junction with SR 1 - all in Ormond.
- From the intersection of May St. and SR 5 in St. Augustine, northeasterly along May St. and across the North River to Vilano, then northerly via Ponte Vedra - Jacksonville Beach to the city limits of Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach, then west along Atlantic Blvd. to a junction with SR 5 in Jacksonville.
Alignment modifications
Since then, the following changes have been made:
- The section in Key West was added.
- The bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale was moved south; the old one became "SR A1A ALT" (now SR 842).
- The part from Lake Park to Jupiter became "SR A1A ALT" (now SR 811), and two new sections were added along the shore, from Riviera Beach to north of Lake Park (formerly State Road 703) and from Juno Beach to Jupiter. The latter is now CR A1A.
- The part from Jupiter to Hobe Sound became SR 707; SR A1A was extended south from Hobe Sound to meet SR 5 (U.S. Route 1). This part is now CR A1A.
- The part north of Stuart (including a segment that was signed State Road 705) was extended south to incorporate the Ernest F. Lyons Bridge and give a more direct access to the Atlantic Ocean from Stuart; the old road became SR A1A Alternate (now CR 707 and SR 732). Recently the part in downtown Stuart, west of SR 714, became CR A1A.
- Both bridges over the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Pierce were rebuilt and moved slightly south. The approach to the south one moved two blocks south.
- When Kennedy Space Center was built around 1962, SR A1A through it was closed and rerouted from the south to go west on SR 528. A small piece of the old road may have become SR 401, but SR 401 now ends before it reaches the old road. Cape Road, which runs east of Launch complex 39, was SR A1A; it ended at former SR 402 at Playalinda Beach. The part from there to south of New Smyrna Beach was never built.
- SR A1A south of New Smyrna Beach is now CR A1A; part of it in New Smyrna Beach still exists, and ends 10 miles (16 km) south of New Smyrna Beach near Turtle Mound. The part connecting to Titusville Beach was never built.
- The part south of Daytona Beach was routed onto a new bridge at Port Orange; the old road south of the bridge became CR A1A and is now CR 4075.
- SR A1A was realigned away from the Atlantic Ocean south of St. Augustine onto what had been SR 3; the south half of the old road became CR A1A.
- The two sections in St. Augustine were connected when SR 5 (U.S. Route 1) was moved west onto a bypass and old SR 5 became SR 5A (Alt US 1).
- The north bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway at St. Augustine was moved north, with the east approach moving two blocks north.
- A bypass was built around Ponte Vedra Beach; the old road became SR 203 (later CR 203 in St. Johns County and Duval County).
- SR A1A was moved out of Jacksonville and onto what had been part of SR 101, a new alignment to the ferry across the St. Johns River, and what still is SR 105 and SR 200. The old road became an extension of SR 10.
- None of the spurs to the mainland are SR A1A any more. The one at West Palm Beach became part of SR 80 on October 25, 1946; the ones at Daytona Beach (now SR 600) and Ormond Beach (now SR 40) were longer, for SR 40 didn't originally go to Ormond Beach.
Jungle Trail
The Jungle Trail (pre-1945 State Road 252) was part of A1A in northeastern Indian River County, Florida. The narrow, seven-and-a-half mile long road is located between Old Winter Beach Road and the current A1A, along the western side of Orchid Island, and is unpaved. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon Scenic Highway system, and the southernmost road in the highway system.
The road started as a means to quickly transport citrus to packinghouses on the mainland, then in the 1930s and 1940s became more used by tourists. On August 1, 2003, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Major intersections
County Road A1A
County Road A1A is a county road in four counties in the U.S. state of Florida. The route is discontinuous and functions as a spur of State Road A1A.
Palm Beach County
Martin County
The longest of the four county spurs, County Road A1A is 15.88-mile (25.56 km) that runs along the Florida East Coast Railroad main line from Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound to Stuart, where it suddenly changes course and runs east along the south coast of the St. Lucie River. After the terminus of SR 714, it approaces a bridge between Stuart and Sewall's Point and becomes SR A1A.
Volusia County
County Road A1A is a 7-mile (11 km) spur route of State Road A1A at Volusia County, Florida, United States. The route begins at U.S. Route 1 and State Road A1A at Downtown New Smyrna Beach as Lytel Avenue. Next, the route crosses the Intracoastal Waterway and Callalisa Creek before heading southbound. After the 2 bridges, the road becomes 3rd Avenue, the northern terminus of Saxon Drive as the first right after Callalisa Creek. East of Indian River Village Shopping Center, the road turns southward and becomes Atlantic Avenue. At the intersection of 27th Avenue, the road becomes 2 lanes wide. Less than a mile south of New Smyrna Beach, Saxon Drive ends. At Bethune Beach, the road slightly turns away from the Atlantic Ocean. The road became Turtle Mound Road at that point. After Bethune Beach, the road is midway between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. At this point, a gate brings access to Canaveral National Seashore. It passes through the ghost town of Eldora. The road ends as a dead end at a beach.
St. Johns County
County Road A1A is a 3.40-mile (5.47 km) spur route of SR A1A in St. Augustine Beach that runs closer to the Atlantic Ocean than SR A1A. It runs northeast from SR A1A, but begins to straighten out between John Drive and a private driveway south of F Street. The closest thing resembling a major intersection is 16th Street. After passing by the St Johns County Ocean Pier, the road intersects Pope Road and leaves the city limits, where it enters Anastasia State Park, and makes a sharp curve to the west. Once the road leaves the park, it features an exceptionlly long west-to-north turning ramp towards SR A1A, but ends at the intersection of SRs A1A and 312.
References
External links
- Scenic and Historic A1A Coastal Byway
- Florida Scenic Highways; Broward County A1A Scenic Highway
Interesting Informations
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