Hollywood's 'walkway idea' would extend beach walk to the south

MIAMI - Hollywood is known worldwide for its popular Broadwalk on the northern half of the beach.  

Now, there's an idea to extend a "Beach Walk" to the south, possibly all the way to Hallandale Beach. 

"I love the walkway idea. The Broadwalk is on the map now which is cool. I grew up here. Ya, I love the walkway idea," said Lisa Hojara. She lives on the beach and likes the proposal to add a walkway. It could be made of wood in some areas, pavers in others or crushed shells like you see in parts of Miami-Dade. 

"I understand why you might think it would be beautiful.  Miami has a beautiful beach with a fabulous walk and bike path. We don't have the space for it," said Beach resident Laurie Schecter. She has concerns.  

"We have done something like this similar right here in north beach behind the Renaissance Building. We've had nothing but problems with it. It keeps getting washed out." 

Edith and Bruce live in the southern part of the beach where it's more narrow. 

"We don't have the kind of depth you have here on the Broadwalk, we have way less beach.  It's going to push everything back," Edith said.

Hollywood mayor Josh Levy said, "I think it will be a very peaceful opportunity for tourists, visitors of the hotels and residents alike," he said.

Mayor Levy explains this stretch of beach is going to get dunes installed as part of the beach renourishment project. The proposed walkway could go on the other side of it. 

"Imagine if there were a dune here, there would be perhaps a crushed shell path that they could walk on bicycle on, use their ADA equipment on and let them have a nice stroll here on the south end of our beach," Mayor Levy explained.

He sees this as combining a recreational aspect to an already planned resiliency project. 

"Is any of this a done deal?" CBS Miami's Ted Scouten asked.  "No," Levy said. "Right now we're in the evaluation phase.  We know the dune project is happening.  And we're exploring whether it's feasible or not to have a recreational opportunity come in as part of this," he said. 

Mayor Levy said there are more studies being done and there will be more public presentations.  He's hoping by July we'll know if this is going to happen or not. 

See the status presentation to the CRA: