The $43 million Westside BeltLine Trail project is one step closer to its private funding goal thanks to the generous commitment of a $5 million donation from the philanthropic James M. Cox Foundation. The Atlanta BeltLine’s fundraising arm, the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, has a goal of receiving commitments of $10 million in private funds by July 2014. It is in large counting on donations from Atlanta’s business community, and as such the James M. Cox Foundation is setting the precedent for other philanthropic groups.

To learn more about this story read the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s article “Business leaders launch new $10 million fundraising campaign for Beltline.”

The Atlanta BeltLine is turning in its trail application to the Georgia Department of Transportation in June 2014, in July 2014 a contractor will be selected, and construction of the trail is scheduled to start around September 2014 with a completion timeframe, set by the federal government, of 2016. The Westview portion of the trail marks the middle of the path, with one end of the trail being marked by Washington Park and the other end of the trail being marked by Adair Park.