State Road A1A (SR A1A) is a major north–south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, 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 SR 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. SR A1A is famous worldwide as a center of beach culture in the United States, a scenic coastal route through most Atlantic coastal cities and beach towns, including the unique tropical coral islands of the Florida Keys. SR A1A also serves as a major thoroughfare through Miami Beach and other south Florida coastal cities.
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 designated as State Road 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.
The East Coast Greenway, a system of trails that connects Maine to Florida, travels along sections of SR A1A.
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, SR 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 SR A1A are often closed or damaged by hurricanes and tropical storms.
SR 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. Today, SR A1A serves as more a main coastal highway that connects beach towns for more than 375 miles along Florida's East Coast.
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 Hallandale Beach, Hollywood Beach, and Dania Beach. It joins with US 1 for 3.4 miles, and passes the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. It then divides and serves Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, and continuing north.
It serves as the main road throughout much of the exclusive Palm Beach, further to the north.
In the area of Vero Beach, SR A1A is called the Robert C. Spillman Memorial Highway, and it spans Sebastian Inlet at the Sebastian Inlet Bridge.
SR A1A next passes just to the west of Cape Canaveral and the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Two miles of SR A1A were used as part of the well-known Daytona Beach Road Course.
SR A1A also passes through St. Augustine, the oldest continuously-inhabited city on the mainland of the United States.