The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show opened yesterday. Its six official venues form two clusters. Bahia Mar Yachting Center at 801 Seabreeze Blvd., Hall of Fame Marina at 435 Seabreeze Blvd. and Las Olas Marina at 240 E. Las Olas Circle are on the beach side of the Intracoastal. Superyacht Village at Pier Sixty-Six South at 2150 SE 17th St., Pier Sixty-Six Marina at 2301 SE 17th St. and the Broward County Convention Center at 1950 Eisenhower Blvd. are along the SE 17th Street corridor.
Rio Vista is the inland corner between those two clusters, west of the Intracoastal, south of Las Olas and north of SE 17th Street. All week, the show's own transportation runs around the neighborhood. This year, two city sewer projects also cut into the streets residents use to get out of it. That combination makes the next four days different from a normal boat show week for anyone who lives here.
The show's own transportation runs around you
The show's official transportation all connects its venues to each other, which means it goes around Rio Vista. The show's parking page calls the Broward County Convention Center the main transportation hub, with more than 3,000 spaces. It also lists nearby garages at the Balfour Beatty Garage at 1799 SE 17th St., the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina at 1881 SE 17th St. and Pier Sixty-Six. All of those sit on the 17th Street side. The show's site and preview guides list different daily parking rates, so check the rate posted at the gate.
From the Convention Center, free show shuttles loop to Bahia Mar and Superyacht Village, and a separate route links the Convention Center with the West Marine Center. Another shuttle loops between the Brightline Fort Lauderdale station and Riverside Hotel, and golf carts run between Superyacht Village and Bahia Mar. The routes run from one venue to another and from downtown to the show, with Rio Vista left in between. If you would normally drive a few minutes south to SE 17th Street for dinner or errands, you're now sharing that corridor with the show's main parking and shuttle traffic until Sunday.
The streets that get you out are narrower this week
The show traffic is predictable. The construction is the part that only applies to this year.
Since Sept. 8, the City of Fort Lauderdale has closed the intersection of SE 9th Avenue and SE 6th Street, inside Rio Vista, for sewer pipe connections and road restoration. Completion is expected in November 2026. According to the city's project update, the following restrictions are in place while that work continues:
- The SE 9th Avenue and SE 6th Street intersection is closed.
- SE 9th Avenue is open to local traffic only between SE 5th Court and SE 6th Street, and between SE 6th Street and SE 6th Court.
- SE 6th Street is open to local traffic only from US 1/Federal Highway to SE 9th Avenue, and from SE 9th Avenue to SE 11th Avenue.
- Detours use US 1/Federal Highway, SE 5th Court, SE 11th Avenue and SE 6th Court.
The second project is just to the south. The city scheduled work in Harbordale on SE 10th Avenue between SE 15th Street and SE 18th Court to resume Monday, Oct. 26, two days before the show opened. The city says crews working there from June to August 2026 ran into unexpected conditions underground, and completion is now expected in January 2027. For the length of the work, one lane in each direction of SE 10th Avenue is closed between SE 17th Street and SE 18th Court. The southbound lane is also closed from just south of SE 16th Court to SE 17th Street, and SE 16th Court is open to local traffic only between Miami Road and SE 10th Avenue.
That project's detours use Miami Road, SE 15th Street, Cordova Road and SE 17th Street. Those are the same streets that connect this part of town to the 17th Street venues and to 15th Street Fisheries. Through Sunday, detoured drivers and show traffic are using the same few roads.
The work schedule matters too. The city says crews generally work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The show's two weekdays, Thursday and Friday, are the days when active crews and full show hours overlap. The intersection closure itself stays in place all week.
Four days, three schedules
Most planning this week comes down to three schedules that start and end at different times.
| Day | Show hours | Water Taxi show hours | City crews, typical schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 29 | 10 a.m.–7 p.m. | 10 a.m.–8 p.m. | 7 a.m.–7 p.m. |
| Friday, Oct. 30 | 10 a.m.–7 p.m. | 10 a.m.–8 p.m. | 7 a.m.–7 p.m. |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | 10 a.m.–7 p.m. | 10 a.m.–8 p.m. | Not scheduled |
| Sunday, Nov. 1 | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | 10 a.m.–6 p.m. | Not scheduled |
Sunday afternoon is likely the busiest stretch on the roads. The show closes at 5 p.m., two hours earlier than on the other days, and on a final day visitors and exhibitors all leave in the same window.
The water route works differently through Sunday
For a neighborhood bordered by the New River and the Intracoastal, the Water Taxi is usually the easy way to reach the beach side. This week it runs only for the show. The Water Taxi's FLIBS page says regular service is suspended during the show. Riders need a show pass, $15 a day or $65 for five days, with children under 5 free, and the pass covers unlimited trips between the designated show stops. Annual Water Taxi pass holders and Windward VIP pass holders ride free.
On the regular route, the stops closest to Rio Vista are F1 at Riverside Hotel and Stranahan House, 335 SE 6th Ave.; F2 at the Shops and Restaurants at Las Olas, 904 E. Las Olas Blvd.; and F3 at 15th Street Fisheries, 1900 SE 15th St. The Intracoastal stops near the show include F4 at the Hilton Marina and Convention Center, F5 at Pier 66 and F6 at Marina Village and Bahia Mar. The show publishes its own set of active stops on its 2026 show maps, which this year include a new digital map powered by MarineSource.com alongside separate maps for parking and transportation. Before you walk to a dock you'd normally use, check that map, because a regular stop may not be a show stop.
Bridges add to the drive time too. The SE 17th Street Causeway's Brooks Memorial Bridge follows a federal drawbridge schedule that applies all year, not a special show schedule. It opens on the hour and half-hour, except Monday through Friday, other than federal holidays, from 6:50 to 9:10 a.m. and 3:50 to 6:10 p.m., when it opens only on the hour. On Thursday and Friday, the afternoon window overlaps the last three hours of the show. During boat show week, a missed bridge opening adds to everything else on the road.
What's new at the show this year
Several of this year's changes are on the venues closest to home. Ahead of the show, Citywide.TV reported that the Windward VIP Cabana Club is moving to Bahia Mar, a floating pickleball court is planned at Las Olas Marina, and Pier Sixty-Six North is being redone to show brokerage vessels over 100 feet. Boat International's 2026 show guide also places the Goslings Island Bar between Bahia Mar's C and D docks.
Away from the docks, a 2026 show dining guide names Boatyard on SE 17th Street, Finster Murphy's near the 17th Street Causeway, and 15th Street Fisheries at Lauderdale Marina, which you can reach by boat or Water Taxi. The first two are on the same corridor as the show's main parking. If you want a meal off the show grounds, 15th Street Fisheries is the one on that list you can reach without driving on SE 17th Street.
Why the corridor fills the way it does
The crowds explain the traffic. The Marine Industries Association of South Florida reports more than 100,000 attendees and a $1.778 billion statewide economic contribution in its study of the 65th annual show. That was the 2024 edition, since Local 10 called the 2025 show the 66th. The same study puts exhibitor sales at $823.5 million and direct spending by out-of-town visitors at $45 million. That many people, arriving through a handful of SE 17th Street garages and Seabreeze Boulevard docks, is why the show runs a shuttle network and a Water Taxi schedule just for itself.
Bahia Mar will eventually change too, but not this week. As of an Oct. 1, 2026 update in luxury real estate coverage of the St. Regis Bahia Mar project, groundbreaking on the first phase was still targeted for late 2026 or early 2027 and depended on reaching a 45 to 50 percent presale threshold. The marina on Seabreeze is still the show's main venue this year.
For Rio Vista, show week ends Sunday evening and SE 17th Street goes back to its regular traffic. The SE 9th Avenue and SE 6th Street intersection is expected to reopen in November, and work on SE 10th Avenue continues into January 2027.
At The Dinh Group, we follow what changes on Rio Vista's streets and waterways week to week, from boat show traffic to the sewer work. If you want to talk through how these projects and the waterfront calendar affect your home, schedule your personalized consultation with Hanh.
