Florida's A1A: The iconic highway's beachy history and scenic journey
Editor's note: This story originally ran as a Florida Time column on Aug. 2, 2020.
Say the name, and you can feel the breeze blowing through the palms and smell the grouper on the hibachi. Think Jimmy Buffett ballads and a convertible cruising along the beach, grouper sizzling on a grill and tropical drinks spinning in a blender.
All in three characters: A1A.
It arguably is the most romantic and best-known road in all of Florida, a symbol of the easygoing beachcomber lifestyle. But it is also home to sprawling mansions, impersonal high-rises and even stretches that leave the beach to cut through industrial and commercial districts.
Designated a state historical highway in several stretches, State Road A1A winds along the east Florida coast, with some interruptions, from Fort Clinch State Park, just two miles south of the Georgia state line, all the way down to Key West.
This home at 9315 S. State Road A1A, Melbourne Beach, was one of the top most expensive homes sold on the Space Coast in 2024.
How did it get its strange and unique name? The answer isn't romantic at all. Instead, it's bureaucracy.
The road opened in 1927 as Atlantic Boulevard. Later it was called State Road 1. In 1946, the state gave it its current name. The reason: confusion with nearby U.S. 1.
Intersection of State Road A1A and Jupiter Beach Road in Jupiter in February 2023.
You could do worse than to mosey up to it. Don't ride it if you're in a hurry. In fact, that's the whole idea.
State Road A1A starts in Key West, a little more than a mile from the "Southernmost Point." It jumps on and off U.S. 1 up through the Keys into Miami.
In Fort Lauderdale, the stretch of open beach — structures are banned on the ocean side — became famous in the 1960s as the Spring Break capital of the world, as popularized in the 1960 movie "Where the Boys Are."
FDOT contractors continue road work from south of Lake Avenue to north of Ibis Way on State Road A1A in Palm Beach, also known as South Ocean Boulevard, South County Road or Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, in June 2025.
In Palm Beach County, the road passes from beach parks to mansions to ritzy Palm Beach and opens up just north of the Jupiter Lighthouse into long stretches of beach, stretching all the way to the Kennedy Space Center.
It then moves up past Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach, where early daredevils raced their cars on the hard sands of the beach, and through the ancient cityof St. Augustine before dead-ending at Fort Clinch.
If you can't get a convertible, the next best way to enjoy A1A just might be on a bicycle.
A1A is popular for bicycle riders in north county.
The Florida stretch of the East Coast Greenway runs for some 600 miles, much of it along the historic coast road.
Eliot Kleinberg is a former staff writer for The Palm Beach Post and the author of numerous books about Florida and its history.
