They Say Walkable Neighborhood We Say Walkable Prison
The proposed design isolates residents inside a six block pod, it is dangerously difficult to walk anywhere beyond this immediate area. With no safe routes to the rest of Boca Raton, residents would be pushed into cars and funneled onto already congested corridors like Palmetto Park Road to reach basic destinations.
Is It Really That Dangerous?
It should not be this hard to understand how dangerous our roads and railways have become, yet finding clear safety data for downtown Boca Raton is surprisingly difficult. What is not difficult is what residents see every day. Traffic is heavier, faster, and more unpredictable, and the people most at risk are those who walk, bike, or rely on small mobility devices.
One of our contributors, Elizabeth Decker, witnessed a 5th grader riding his bike to school get hit by a car pulling out of a parking lot. He was OK, but shaken and frightened. The driver left when the child's parents could not be reached. When a parent finally arrived, they explained that their son has autism, and the fear, anger, sadness, and relief on that parent's face captured exactly what it feels like to navigate these streets.
The statistics available come from scattered sources and do not always align, but together they show what daily life is like for anyone who tries to walk or bike beyond the boundaries of the proposed development. These numbers reflect the reality today. They do not account for the added traffic and conflict points that will come with the new developments already approved or under construction and the subsequent density.
The Brightline tracks form the eastern edge of the proposed development. WLRN and the Miami Herald have documented the danger in their series called "Killer Train." In the map shown to the right, we overlaid Brightline fatalities onto Palm Beach County to highlight the deaths that occurred in Boca Raton. The most recent was on December 15, 2025, at the SW 18th Street crossing. The article honoring those who have died, is updated regularly.
Running parallel to the tracks are Dixie Highway and Federal Highway, with Palmetto Park Road crossing them at the south end of the site. These roads are rarely calm. When they are not backed up waiting for a train or a light, vehicles move fast. High speeds mixed with impatience create a dangerous environment for anyone walking, biking, or using a mobility device.
Click on the image to go to the Miami Herald article with the full map.
Data from Alert Boca
One of the sources of information is Alert Boca, a service anyone can sign up for to receive emails and texts about road closures. Searching those alerts for crash‑related keywords produced the graph to the left. Monthly numbers will always vary, but the sharp rise in the past two months is concerning.