An oceanside Florida highway may be named after the late Jimmy Buffett
By Christina Zdanowicz and Melissa Alonso, CNN
(CNN) — Soon, you may be able to cruise down a Florida highway named after singer Jimmy Buffett while listening to his A1A album named after the road.
A Florida lawmaker filed a bill Friday to rename State Road A1A, a coastal highway that spans from Key West in the south to Fernandina Beach in the north, in honor of Buffett.
The singer, who blended the sounds of the tropics with country, died a month ago from Merkel cell cancer. The 76-year-old entertained audiences for more than five decades with his tales of the people and places he encountered on the road.
His audiences subscribed to his vision of a life filled with flip-flops, beaches, boats and booze.
State Rep. Chuck Clemons, a Republican, filed House Bill 91 on Friday to give “honorary designation” of certain portions of State Road A1A in specified counties, according to the bill.
If the bill gets passed, the state road will be renamed “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway” in all Florida counties on the East Coast.
“All of those portions of S.R. A1A located in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard, Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns, Duval, and Nassau Counties” would get the new highway name, if passed.
The 2024 Florida legislative session begins in January.
While Buffett was born in Mississippi and raised in Alabama, Florida was a special place for him.
He took a “fateful” trip to Key West in 1971, which inspired him to combine his loves for music, travel and storytelling, according to his website. It was there that he found his voice as a songwriter.
His A1A album was released in December 1974, including the song “Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season,” which mentions the coastal highway.
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