Taft Street Improvement Project

To enhance bicycle and pedestrian safety and provide better accommodations for those taking public transportation, improvements are coming to Taft Street from State Road 7 to N 40^th Avenue in Hollywood.

Back in 2015, the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) conducted a year-long study looking at the multimodal improvements that were needed along the SR 7 Corridor. This study involved all cities along the State Road 7 corridor and included two public outreach meetings in Hollywood as well as a telephone Town Hall meeting. Through this study, several short-term bike/pedestrian connectivity improvements were recommended including one in Hollywood along Taft Street from SW 40^th Avenue to State Road 7. Subsequently, these improvements were also included in the City of Hollywood's Bicycle Mobility Master Plan.

Since that time, the MPO identified funding for this project and moved forward with designing a new multi-purpose path along the north side of Taft Street for both pedestrians and bicyclists. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) was brought in to construct the new pathway. The project plans included:

Taft Street from SR 7/US 441 to N 40th Avenue

PROJECT UPDATE as of 11/6/24:

• The City Commission expressed support for the new alternative option that reduces the number of trees to be removed. Additionally, staff is directed to evaluate the need for more and better drainage, specifically the impervious areas of Taft Street and 46th Ave. to find the best engineering solution. Staff was also directed to remove the non-native Black Olive tree(s) located at 1701 North 49th Ave., per resident request, and seek an alternative drainage solution for that location.

PROJECT UPDATE as of 10/21/24:

• The Hollywood portion of this project has been put on hold by FDOT, at the City's request. Currently the City has requested a revision to the project's scope of work from 56th Avenue west to US 441. In response, FDOT is working on estimating the cost implications for the City due to the reduced scope of the construction project, based on their contractual terms with the contractor. FDOT anticipates providing this estimate to the City by early November. Additionally, FDOT is exploring whether alternative plans to reduce the width of the shared-use path from 11" to 8' in the area for 40th Avenue to 56th Avenue would reduce or eliminate the need for any tree removal. 8 feet is the minimum allowable width for a shared use path. Once all of this information is available, staff will present it to the City Commission for review, allowing for a thorough evaluation of all available options, including the potential impact on trees.