Brightline Aventura and Boca Raton Station Construction - November 2021

Coming up in this Brightline Construction Update. This update looks at the progress on the two infill stations being added in South Florida at Aventura and Boca Raton. These stations are being added in the currently operating phase 1 segment in South Florida. The Aventura Station is roughly halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton is halfway between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. We’ll start in Aventura. Aventura is the only station to break ground so far and there is some noticeable progress. A track shift was recently completed here to move the two mainlines west to make room for work on the new island platform here. Crews are in the process of clearing the brush on the east side as well. Thanks to some recent permit filings with the South Florida Water Management District that are public, I have been able to find some of the plans for the platforms and track here. There will be four tracks in total here, which split from the two mainlines on either side of the station. Two tracks will provide access to the island platform while the other two will bypass it. The platform will be accessed via an overhead walkway coming from the station. There is also room for low level commuter rail platforms to be build along the outer tracks in the future. Here is where the stairs, escalator, and elevator will come down to the platform. The platform will be long enough for 10 car train just like every other station has been built to accomodate. Emergency evacuation ramps are also on either end of the platform. I would like to reiterate that these plans came from public permit filings and were not provided to me by anyone at Brightline. Here is a closer look at some of the brush clearing work. You can see some new rail laid alongside the east mainline. We’ll now move over to the station itself where there has actually been some substantial vertical progress. Referring to another set of plans that were also filed with the South Florida Water Management District, we can get an idea of how this station will be laid out. At the south end will be the entrance lobby and ticketing followed by the security checkpoint. Moving farther inside, on the right will be the escalators and elevators leading up to the bridge that will take passengers over to the platform. On the left will be the passenger lounge. The seating continues towards the back as well. There will also be restrooms and a vending area. Support offices are in the back. Back in the air, the area behind the station will be parking and passenger pickup and drop off areas. Nothing looks to have been started on this yet. The main station building has taken shape and is enclosed with construction wrap sealing the building. Windows will eventually be installed but this way the building has been waterproofed so work inside can proceed without worrying about weather. HVAC equipment is installed on the roof. Behind the station work has begun on the area where the escalators and elevators will be installed. Shafts for the elevators are starting to go vertical and poles that will support the overall structure around this area are also rising. Conduit for various utilities are currently being run before the rest of the floor is poured. Heres a closer look at the building. This door on the left to the support area looks to be the only one installed so far. Based on the artist renderings, these wall will primarily be made up of windows. Flying through here you can see the rebar extending up from the poles as they start rising higher. Heres the current view from above the tracks looking at the station across West Dixie Highway. The only way you would know this is a train station is this sign outside the fence. To give som context as to where exactly this station is, here is a look at the surrounding area. We are starting looking south and are turning counterclockwise towards the east. In the distance you can see high rises along the beach. Here is the Aventura Mall, which the station will connect to directly via a bridge across Biscayne Blvd. We are now looking north towards Fort Lauderdale. And now we are looking west across some residential areas. Here is a Brightline train, BrightGreen, passing the station site. As one final look, this is what the station currently looks like from onboard a Brightline train. We’ll now head north to Boca Raton to look at the site for that future station. Here are a few artist renderings that have been released. It is worth noting that these are just preliminary renderings and do not include all of the future features and the finished structure will likely vary. Brightline has not officially broken ground at this location yet so this will just be an overview of the site and a description of what exactly will be built here. We’re currently flying north along the tracks where the platforms will eventually be installed. Like Aventura, platform and track plans have also recently been filed with the South Florida Water Management District. Here there will be platforms on both sides of the right of way with a single bypass track down the middle. There is room to add a second bypass track down the middle if ever necessary and will go where the Florida East Coast Railroad is written here. There will be another bridge over the tracks to provide access to the outer platform from the station with the western platform connected directly to the station building. Where the station building will eventually go was a former community garden. Brightline paid to relocate that garden to a nearby location and it was officially opened in October 2021 paving the way for work to begin here soon. Plans for this station building have not been filed yet so I don’t have anything to show for this station, but the interior characteristics will likely be similar to those in Aventura with a slightly different layout. Brightline will also be building a parking garage here that will be used by both Brightline passengers and patrons of the neighboring library. The garage will have 455 parking spaces. 64 of the spaces will provide free parking for patrons of the library with its own, dedicated entrance while the rest will be for Brightline. Part of the existing parking lot will also remain for the library. A small temporary parking lot was also completed nearby recently to provide parking for the library while construction of the garage is ongoing. And here are two more low level passes along the tracks, starting with a flight north. Where the two mainline tracks are at now are likely where the one bypass track will be and where the second can eventually go someday. Additional tracks will be built on the right and left to provide access to the platforms. And here is a look at this site from onboard the train. And as a bonus, here is a Florida East Coast Railway freight passing by the Aventura Station site southbound just after that Brightline train passed. Thanks for watching! Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe! Also check out my social media pages!

Channel: The Roaming Railfan

Views: 4,064

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: brightline, bright line, all aboard, florida, aaf, florida east coast, railway, railroad, fec, trains, rail, rails, ballast, passenger, higher, high, speed, west palm beach, wpb, station, bridge, ties, roadbed, double track, new, road, railfan, Installation, complete, cut, shift, track, sleepers, train, higher speed, aventura, boca raton, bocaraton, boca, north miami, miami, fort lauderdale, infill, additional, stations, progress, island, platform, pedestrian, plans, brightorange, bright green, construction, briteline, drone

Id: FOiu--7HB7A

Length: 16min 26sec (986 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 28 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/megachainguns]

TLDR: Some progress with Aventura, nothing much with Boca Raton.