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Cape Town, hold onto your walking shoes. The St James coastal walkway extension is officially in motion.
An anonymous family walked up to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis in 2025 and basically said: Here’s some money to contribute to extending the St James walkway.
No ribbon-cutting. No naming rights. Just an act of civic generosity that’s about to make your Sunday stroll longer.
“This commitment is also an opportunity to set a long-term vision for this coastal walking route, and the City will work carefully with all relevant stakeholders as the project progresses,” said Hill-Lewis.
The route: Surfers’ Corner to Clovelly
The grand plan is to stretch the walkway all the way from Muizenberg’s Surfers’ Corner through St James and onward to Clovelly Corner. That’s the full vision.
What’s funded right now is phase one, the section that gets built once the paperwork gods are appeased.
The City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews, has confirmed the rest will need more funding down the line. So consider this the trailer, not the whole movie.
“For now, we are preparing for the public participation and other processes that will focus on the first phase of the project made possible by the generous funding from the Cape Town family. We will keep the public informed,” added the deputy mayor.
Yes, there’s a railway line in the way
The proposed route runs close to the Southern Line, managed by PRASA.
Talks have already started, and according to CapeTownEtc, those conversations have gone well so far.
The City has also brought in a team of coastal engineers to develop a high-level concept design and cost estimate, with the build planned in manageable, bite-sized sections rather than one dig-up.
Before a single paving stone is laid, the project must survive the full obstacle course. An environmental impact assessment. Public participation and sign-off from stakeholders, PRASA, SANParks, heritage authorities, and both provincial and national government departments.
Many moving parts
The St James walkway is one of the most-used public spaces in the city, packed with joggers, dog walkers, tide-poolers, and the occasional whale-spotter, all year round.
Extending it means more uninterrupted coastline, better public access to a stretch that’s currently landlocked for pedestrians, and one more reason to leave the car at home on a weekend.
This could genuinely reshape how Capetonians use the False Bay coast.
What happens next?
The City says it’ll keep the public updated as planning, consultation, and design work grinds forward.
Don’t expect boots on the ground tomorrow, but do expect this to be one of those projects everyone forgets about until one day there’s a brand-new stretch of coastline to walk.
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