The concrete wall will separate the commercial area that fronts U.S. 441 from the residential area behind it.
"It took a while longer than expected, but here we are," said City Council member Larry Freilich at the 9:30 a.m. ground- breaking ceremony behind Broward Plaza just south of Broward Boulevard. "We have committed ourselves to this area, and the partnership will continue for years to come."
Since plans to build the wall were conceived two years ago, residents on the west side of U.S. 441 have embraced the idea. The project also calls for permanently closing many of the streets that intersect U.S. 441.
"We're thrilled," said Robert Levy, vice president of the Country Club Estates Homeowners Association, who lives three houses from the wall on Southwest First Street. "It gives us a buffer. It gives us a way to say we live in this green, country neighborhood, not in a parking lot."
Residents east of U.S. 441, where a similar wall was to go up, have generally opposed it on the ground that it would divide their mostly black community in unincorporated Broward from Plantation's white community.
Thursday, six residents who said they represented the eastern neighborhoods marched on the east side of U.S. 441 with signs reading, "Read our lips, no wall/street closure this side of 441," and, "The Berlin Wall is torn down. We don't want another one."
Some demonstrators said they did not care about the western wall, but wanted to send a message that they opposed a similar wall on their side of U.S. 441.
"It closes us off from 441," said Joe Major, a resident of Broward Estates who was picketing Thursday morning. "It's like, by putting up an eight-foot wall, they're saying we don't care if there is crime in your area as long as it doesn't come into ours."