In January, Boca Daily News reported that Town Manager Marshall Labadie said, "The barrels have been removed and the bike lane conflicts with turn lanes have been marked," as construction along Ocean Boulevard approached substantial completion. The state's repaving, widening, and bike lane project, which had turned commutes and beach walks along A1A into a detour for over a year, was scheduled to reach substantial completion the following week.
The January update also noted that the lighted crossings had not yet been funded. The sections that follow explain what the August approval covers and what work remains.
What Remained After the January Update
Back in January, Labadie was candid about what remained. The road itself was done: wider lanes, fresh asphalt, new bike lanes. But the lighted crosswalk signals that were supposed to accompany the project had been separated out, and their funding depended on a legislative ask from State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman. If Tallahassee didn't come through, Labadie said, the town would look at budgeting for it themselves.
In August, Boca Daily News reported that the Town Commission approved a $283,920 contract with Lux Solar Inc., a Delray Beach-based contractor, as part of a broader $375,000 state-funded pedestrian safety project. The scope covers eight mid-block crossings along Ocean Boulevard, each getting in-road embedded LED lighting that flashes bi-directionally when a pedestrian hits the existing push button. The new lights will be added to crossings that already have pedestrian push buttons.
Lux Solar installed the original lighting infrastructure at these crossings and is contracted for additional work at the same locations.
Crosswalk and Shared-Use Path Work
Here's the part that separates this from a routine infrastructure update. The project scope doesn't stop at the crosswalks. It also includes milling, repaving, and regrading sections of the shared-use path that runs alongside A1A, specifically to address elevation and drainage changes caused by the recent FDOT resurfacing. That resurfacing, the one Labadie called substantially complete in January, raised and reshaped parts of the roadway in ways that changed how water drains off the adjacent path. The result has been standing water and, in places, pedestrians forced into the travel lane just to get around it.
In plain terms: the $375,000 state-funded project includes both the crosswalk lighting and repairs to the shared-use path. The path work addresses drainage changes associated with the recent FDOT resurfacing. If you've walked or biked A1A after a rainstorm this year and encountered standing water, the project includes work to address drainage along the path.
Where the Eight Crossings Actually Sit
The eight locations aren't spread evenly across the corridor. Reading them by milepost tells a different story than reading them as a flat list of addresses:
The north and south edges, spaced far apart:
- Grand Court, milepost 5.017
- Regency Highland, milepost 5.89
- Monterey House, milepost 6.817
- Delray Sands Resort, milepost 7.137
The dense middle stretch, four crossings in under half a mile:
- Toscana Towers, milepost 6.15
- Highland Beach Club, milepost 6.293
- Coronado Ocean Club, milepost 6.507
- Ambassadors East, milepost 6.577
That middle cluster, from Toscana to Ambassadors East, covers roughly 0.43 miles and contains half of the entire project's crossings. Meanwhile Grand Court at the north end and Delray Sands Resort at the south end sit more than two miles apart; the two other crossings outside the middle stretch are Regency Highland and Monterey House. Buildings near Grand Court or Delray Sands may be farther from a lit crossing than buildings in the Toscana-to-Ambassadors East stretch once the work is done.
This matters beyond convenience. These are mid-block crossings by definition, meaning they sit between signalized intersections like the one at A1A and Linton Boulevard, not at them. For most of the corridor, a mid-block crossing is the only practical way to get across Ocean Boulevard on foot without walking well out of your way. Where the town chose to concentrate its new lighting, and where it didn't, shapes daily foot traffic patterns up and down A1A for years.
The Six-Month Clock Hasn't Started
One more detail worth knowing before you start watching for construction crews: the contract requires Lux Solar to complete the work within six months of receiving a formal notice to proceed from the town. As of the August approval, that notice hadn't been issued, and no date was available for when it would be. So while the funding and the contractor are locked in, the actual start date is still an open question.
Because the notice to proceed had not been issued as of the August approval, no firm start date was available, and the six-month completion period had not begun. The January update described the roadway work as substantially complete; the crossing-light and path work remained pending.
What This Means If You Walk A1A
If you live between Toscana Towers and Ambassadors East, the project calls for four separate lit crossings within a short walk of each other, more concentrated pedestrian infrastructure than almost anywhere else in town. If you're closer to Grand Court or Delray Sands Resort, your nearest lit crossing may still require a longer walk than you'd expect for a town this size.
Either way, for day-to-day use, the path work may matter most to residents who encounter standing water near their buildings. The project includes repairs intended to address drainage along the path; the flashing lights, by contrast, are aimed at improving driver visibility.
For residents in the high-rises along this stretch, most of which run on condo association budgets already under pressure from Florida's newer structural reserve requirements, infrastructure timelines like this one are worth tracking alongside building-level maintenance schedules. We've written separately about how reserve funding rules are reshaping risk for Highland Beach condo buyers, and the same instinct applies here: check which parts of a project are complete and which work remains pending.
If you're weighing a move to this stretch of Ocean Boulevard, or you already call it home and want a clearer read on what's happening block by block, Jason Litt tracks these details because they're part of what it actually means to live here. Browse more on the Highland Beach neighborhood page, or if you're curious what a home in this corridor is worth right now given everything changing around it, get a free home valuation and get a straight answer.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
