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What began as a pilot project on a busy corridor in Boca Raton has grown into a citywide commitment to Complete Streets, led by community advocates and championed by Vice Mayor Fran Nachlas. With a strong policy framework, visible early wins, and a focus on data, Boca Raton is showing what it looks like when a city decides to design their streets for people first.

Background

Located on Florida’s southeast coast, Boca Raton is home to around 100,000 residents and is known for its sunny beaches and palm-lined streets. As Boca Raton grew over the decades, wide arterials, sprawling development, and narrow sidewalks were the norm. The end result is streets prioritized for vehicles, with little accommodation for non-drivers, increasing safety concerns for all road users.

This design has taken a toll. Boca Raton’s rate of serious injury and fatal crashes are 13 percent higher than the state average and 53 percent higher than Palm Beach County’s. More than 87 percent of the most severe crashes happened on fast-moving arterial roads. In 2021, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities. These numbers told a story—roads in Boca Raton aren’t safe, especially for those outside of cars.

The community wanted to change that narrative. In 2020, city staff and elected officials started exploring Complete Streets to help them prioritize safe, convenient transportation for all people, regardless of how they get around. After years of planning and surveys, the city council unanimously adopted a Complete Streets policy in November 2023, establishing a commitment to road design that puts safety first.

A leader in action

This effort was championed in part by Vice-Mayor Fran Nachlas, long-time Boca Raton resident and recent Smart Growth America Complete Streets Champion Institute participant. As a nurse and athlete, Nachlas is especially committed to making life safer and healthier for members of her community, and has been a critical advocate for safer streets. Vice Mayor Nachlas works to inspire Complete Streets change locally as a Transportation Planning Agency Representative on the Boca Raton City Council and on a county level as a member of the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency’s (TPA) board.

Nachas appreciates the need to experience streets the way residents of Boca Raton do. Nachlas recently biked the entire 84-mile city bike map network to deepen her understanding of the safety issues Boca Raton is facing and bring light to gaps, barriers, and opportunities for improvement. Similar to walk audits, these bike rides gave Nachlas firsthand experience that not only deepened her appreciation for the lived experience of her community, but inspired ways to make a change.

The Champions Institute

Through her role on city council, Nachlas spearheaded the development of Boca Raton’s 2023 Complete Streets policy. Since then, Boca Raton has received a number of grants can be used to implement safe and Complete Streets. Nachlas seized the opportunity to further advance her efforts towards building a safer, healthier community for Boca Raton residents, landing her a spot in the most recent Smart Growth America Champions Institute, a program that supports elected officials who want to adopt and implement Complete Streets.

Through the program, she has planned a project that will focus on engaging community members. The project will feature a citywide event with the goal of providing education while gathering community perspectives. Specifically, the event will aim to increase public awareness of bike and scooter rules, identify potential locations for quick-build safety projects, and begin building a coalition that includes city staff, Florida Department of Transportation officials, bike advocates, schools, and neighborhood groups. She also collaborated with her colleagues on the TPA to pass a CDC Active People, Healthy Nation Proclamation, signifying a strong commitment to promoting health and connectivity by creating communities where people can safely and easily walk, bike, and use other forms of active transportation.

“As an elected official, resident, parent, and grandparent, I know I must advocate for the design and building of streets that prioritize people, are safe, and support the Complete Streets ideology. I’m honored to play a vital role in supporting these goals, identifying the local needs of our community, and advancing policies to build activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations in my city.” Vice Mayor Fran Nachlas | Boca Raton, FL

In April 2025, Vice Mayor Nachlas announced that she would be running for Mayor of Boca Raton in their upcoming 2026 election. Nachlas has said that if elected, she wants to use creative yet practical strategies like Complete Streets to bring her community visible, tangible benefits.

A positive path forward

Boca Raton’s Complete Streets policy provides a foundation that will allow the city to continue fostering improved community engagement, increased project implementation, and opportunities to address outdated practices to further increase access to walking, biking, and other forms of active transportation. Their Complete Streets policy also includes specific language that requires assessment and evaluation of potential walking, biking, and transit improvements every time a road is resurfaced, reconstructed, or newly built. To strengthen their ability to implement Complete Streets, staff are working on a bicycle and pedestrian master plan and a new scoring tool to help them prioritize what projects are needed and where—with special consideration for historically underserved neighborhoods that have been most impacted by the unsafe infrastructure.

Boca Raton has already seen tangible change inspired by the vision established in the US-1 project proposal and the Complete Streets policy. The city has installed 1,400 new lighting fixtures in and around downtown, added a new crosswalk to El Rio Trail, as well as pedestrian crossings to Palmetto Park. These projects are small steps, but they are evidence of the bigger picture: Boca Raton is prioritizing the creation of spaces that serve everyone.

Like many communities, Boca Raton still faces challenges. Staff capacity, funding constraints, and the need to balance redevelopment priorities will all shape the city’s ability to implement its Complete Streets vision. But with a strong policy in place and local leadership exemplified by Vice-Mayor Nachlas, Boca Raton has an opportunity to become a safer, healthier place for all.