Boca Raton | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | 101 NW 4th Street Boca Raton, Florida United States | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 26°21′17″N80°05′15″W / 26.354617°N 80.087385°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | City of Boca Raton | ||||||||||
Operated by | Brightline | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Florida East Coast Railway | ||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||
Connections | Palm Tran: 1, 94 | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Structure type | At-grade | ||||||||||
Parking | On-site parking garage; paid | ||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Racks | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | December 21, 2022 | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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Boca Raton station is an inter-city rail station in Boca Raton, Florida. [1] It is served by Brightline (which codes the station as BOC in routing), [2] on their line from Miami to Orlando. The station is located near Mizner Park, right next to the Boca Raton Public Library, and is 22,000 sq ft (2,000 m2) on a 1.8-acre site. It was opened on December 21, 2022. [3]
In 2019, Mayor Scott Singer of Boca Raton pitched the idea to Brightline about adding a station in Boca Raton because of its key market. [4] Brightline considered the opportunity and decided to send a letter to the city of Boca Raton about the possibility of adding their city as an infill station along the Florida route. Brightline proposed constructing the station and rail infrastructure while the city would cover access and zoning requirements and costs. [5] In December 2019, the Boca Raton City Council approved the station site, which was a former community garden next to the Boca Raton Public Library. [6]
In September 2020, the city was awarded a $16 million grant from the United States Department of Transportation to be used toward the construction of the station and related infrastructure. A portion of the grant would fund the construction of a 455-car parking garage that accommodates both Brightline passengers and patrons of the neighboring public library. [7] Construction of the garage commenced in December 2021 and was completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. [8] [9] Construction of the actual station itself commenced on January 25, 2022, accompanied by an official groundbreaking ceremony hosted by Brightline's president, Patrick Goddard. [10] [11] A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held a day before the station's opening date, and it opened to the public on December 21, 2022, taking less than a year to complete the station. [3]
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. However, many people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city also experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,138,333 at the 2020 United States Census.
Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 26th-most populous in the United States, with 1,492,191 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is West Palm Beach, which had a population of 117,415 as of 2020. Named after one of its oldest settlements, Palm Beach, the county was established in 1909, after being split from Miami-Dade County. The county's modern-day boundaries were established in 1963.
Palm Beach International Airport is a public airport in Palm Beach County, Florida, located just west of the city of West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, for which it serves as the primary airport. It is also the primary airport for most of Palm Beach County, serving the suburbs and cities of Boca Raton, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Jupiter, and Palm Beach Gardens. It is the third busiest airport in the Miami metropolitan area after Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. The airport is operated by Palm Beach County's Department of Airports. Road access to the airport is direct from I-95, Southern Boulevard, and Congress Avenue. The airport is bordered on the west by Military Trail.
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida DOT. The 80.0-mile-long (128.7 km) system has 19 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, to Metrorail at the Metrorail Transfer station, Miami Airport station, and MiamiCentral, and to Brightline at MiamiCentral.
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México.
Boca Raton is a Tri-Rail commuter rail station in Boca Raton, Florida. The station is located at Yamato Road, just east of Congress Avenue and west of I-95. Originally opened January 9, 1989, the station was moved and rebuilt following Hurricane Wilma, reopening to service November 4, 2005. The station is the southernmost Tri-Rail station in Palm Beach County, and offers parking. By 2014, it was considered the busiest station in the system with 1,600 riders a day, surpassing the Tri-Rail and Metrorail transfer station in Miami-Dade County. For this reason, a second Boca Raton Tri-Rail station at Glades Road has been long considered.
Town Center at Boca Raton, often referred to as Boca Town Center, Town Center Mall, or simply Town Center, is an upscale shopping mall located in Boca Raton, Florida, that has been owned and operated by Simon Property Group since 1998. The mall features Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
The Boca Express Train Museum, operated by the Boca Raton Historical Society, is housed in a restored 1930 Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) train station in Boca Raton, Florida. designed by Chester G. Henninger, built for Clarence H. Geist. It is located at 747 South Dixie Highway, off U.S. 1. On October 24, 1980, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Brightline West is a privately run high-speed rail route, currently under construction, to link the Las Vegas Valley and Rancho Cucamonga in the Greater Los Angeles area through the California high desert. The line will connect with existing rail at Rancho Cucamonga station of Metrolink's San Bernardino Line, a commuter rail line in Southern California. The project is intended to provide an alternative to air and automobile travel between Southern California and Las Vegas, a popular leisure destination. In December 2023, the United States Department of Transportation awarded Brightline West a $3 billion grant as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Construction, initially expected to begin shortly after the grant was announced in 2023, began on April 22, 2024. Revenue service is planned to start in 2028.
Transportation in Florida includes a variety of options, including Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, and Florida State Roads; Amtrak and commuter rail services; airports, public transportation, and sea ports, in a number of the state's counties and regions.
SunRail is a commuter rail system in the Greater Orlando, Florida, area. Services began on May 1, 2014. The system comprises 16 stations along a former CSX Transportation line connecting Volusia County and Osceola County through Downtown Orlando. The SunRail system is financed by the state and federal governments and the counties it serves. SunRail is Florida's second commuter rail system after South Florida's Tri-Rail.
Brightline is an inter-city rail route in the United States that runs between Miami and Orlando, Florida. Part of the route runs on track owned and shared by the Florida East Coast Railway.
MiamiCentral is a train station in Miami, Florida. Located in Downtown Miami, the station provides access to the Brightline inter-city rail service and the Tri-Rail commuter rail service. The station is part of a 9-acre (3.6 ha) mixed-use complex, which includes 3 million square feet (280,000 m2) of residential, office, commercial, and retail development.
Fort Lauderdale station is an inter-city rail station located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is served by Brightline's line between Miami and Orlando. The station is located in downtown Fort Lauderdale, on NW 2nd Avenue between Broward Boulevard and NW 4th Street, adjacent to the Broward County Transit's Central Terminal. The station is also served by Sun Trolley.
West Palm Beach station is an inter-city rail station in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is served by Brightline, connecting West Palm Beach to Downtown Miami and Orlando International Airport. The station is located in downtown West Palm Beach, on Evernia Street between Rosemary Avenue and Quadrille Boulevard. This is about half a mile east of Amtrak and Tri-Rail's West Palm Beach station and half a mile south of the older Florida East Coast Railway station that operated on the same tracks in the first half of the 1900s, next to where Quadrille Boulevard turns south after crossing the Flagler Memorial Bridge.
Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. Its history dates back to about 12,000 years ago, shortly after when Native Americans migrated into Florida. Juan Ponce de León became the first European in the area, landing at the Jupiter Inlet in 1513. Diseases from Europe, enslavement, and warfare significantly diminished the indigenous population of Florida over the next few centuries. During the Second Seminole War, the Battles of the Loxahatchee occurred west of modern-day Jupiter in 1838. The Jupiter Lighthouse, the county's oldest surviving structure, was completed in 1860. The first homestead claims were filed around Lake Worth in 1873. The county's first hotel, schoolhouse, and railway, the Celestial Railroad, began operating in the 1880s, while the first settlers of modern-day Lake Worth Beach arrived in 1885. During the 1890s, Henry Flagler and his workers constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel and The Breakers in Palm Beach and extended the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area. They also developed a separate city for hotel workers, which in 1894 became West Palm Beach, the county's oldest incorporated municipality. Major Nathan Boynton, Congressman William S. Linton, and railroad surveyor Thomas Rickards also arrived in the 1890s and developed communities that became Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, respectively.
Siemens Venture is a type of locomotive-hauled passenger railroad car built by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. The cars are derived from the Siemens Viaggio Comfort cars used in Europe, with adaptations for North American operations. The cars entered service with Brightline in 2018 and with Amtrak Midwest in 2022. They have also been ordered by Amtrak for national and other state-supported routes, Via Rail, and Ontario Northland. The Venture cars will also be used on Amtrak’s Airo trainsets.
Aventura station is a Brightline station in Ojus, Florida. It is located on West Dixie Highway, west of the Aventura Mall and the city of Aventura. The station is built on land purchased by Brightline and donated to Miami-Dade County, which funded a portion of the construction with $76 million. A groundbreaking ceremony was held September 3, 2020. Prior to Brightline's ongoing suspension of service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the station had been expected to open in the fall of 2021. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on December 20, 2022. Despite a scheduled opening date of December 21, 2022, passenger service did not begin until a few days later, on December 24, 2022, due to some last-minute finishing touches to the station.
Boca Raton station can refer to:
Stuart station is a future Brightline inter-city rail station in Stuart, Florida. The station would be located near the Old Martin County Courthouse in the downtown area of the city, having a station size of 8,750 square feet (813 m2) on a 2.35-acre site. Service at this station will begin by the end of 2026.
Media related to Boca Raton station (Brightline) at Wikimedia Commons