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Photos by Asep Mawardi

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Jan. 22 for the first phase of the four-mile Atlanta BeltLine Southside Trail.

Dubbed Southside Trail-West, construction on the 0.75-mile portion of the corridor will extend from the Westside Trail to Pittsburgh Yards on University Avenue. Astra Group was selected as contractor for the work.

BeltLine CEO Clyde Higgs said the “Southside Trail-West was selected as the first segment in a phased approach to construction because of its connection between four emerging job centers – Pittsburgh Yards, Murphy Crossing, and Lee + White and the Metropolitan.”

For the first time, the Atlanta BeltLine will have three segments of the corridor under construction at the same time. Higgs said this was a “huge” step forward.

While the Southside Trail-West construction is underway, the BeltLine team will continue to advance design, real estate acquisition, and funding sources necessary to construct the full length of the paved Southside Trail. Higgs said the goal was to have the entire Southside Trail shovel-ready by the end of 2020.