South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Boca Raton station construction to start soon
BOCA RATON — The longplanned Brightline station for Boca Raton is getting closer to being built, with the project’s first phase of construction scheduled to start in March.
The pandemic led the rail line last year to stop running its trains, but that hasn’t halted plans to develop stations in Boca Raton, as well as in Aventura and at PortMiami.
In Boca Raton, the build-out of a planned $46 million station will start in March with the construction of a temporary parking lot and garden. The latest steps come more than a year after the Boca Raton City Council unanimously approved the new station in December 2019.
Late last year, the city was awarded a $16.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund the station and adjacent parking garage, which will be built on the east side of the city’s downtown library. The station is scheduled to open in mid-2022, according to a statement by the city.
Brightline also has cut a commuter rail-corridor deal with Miami-Dade County, and continued work on a station at Walt Disney World in Central Florida. A spokeswoman said construction on the Orlando leg from West Palm Beach is nearly halfway complete.
In Aventura, Brightline broke ground last September for a station
that will serve as a northern point for an ambitious commuter line between northeast Miami-Dade County and the line’s main station in downtown Miami.
The station will be adjacent to the Aventura Mall on 3 acres in the 19800 block of West Dixie Highway.
The project includes a new pedestrian bridge over the railroad right-of-way and Biscayne Boulevard, providing access to the mall and a nearby Miami-Dade Transit bus terminal.