Images: How short but crucial Beltline stretch is coming together

A year and ½ after it was announced, a short but important stretch of the 22-mile Beltline loop is months away from construction in Southwest Atlanta, per project leaders.  

Atlanta Beltline Inc. expects to have Westside Trail—Segment 6 in West End almost fully designed by the end of March, with the bidding process for builders on tap for this summer, according to a recent community update meeting. 

As is, the segment is a .6-mile abandoned and cleared rail corridor just north of the Lee + White warehouse district. 

Beltline crews in January began adding new gravel to the interim Segment 6, cutting back landscaping, and installing temporary poles for cameras and lighting to accommodate users during 2026 FIFA World Cup festivities. No construction will start until after the soccer matches are in the books, per Beltline officials. 

The construction timeline calls for beginning this fall and wrapping in late 2027 or early the following year. Landscaping work will continue into 2028, per the Beltline. 

Beltline officials have described Segment 6 as a “pivotal” link between existing Westside Trail sections in former rail corridor that currently end at Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Lawton Street, leaving a gap.

The 14-foot-wide, multi-use trail will include bells and whistles found with other Beltline sections, including the popular Eastside Trail. Soft shoulders beside the paved pathway, permanent lighting, security cameras, a fiber duct bank, stainless steel handrails and guardrails, and drainage components with a focus on green infrastructure, among other aspects, will be included, project leaders have said. 

The gap in paved, in-corridor trail has existed (and confounded some first-time users) since the three-mile, $43-million Westside Trail debuted about nine years ago. It requires Beltline patrons to exit the Westside Trail corridor and zigzag up and down ramps and follow an adjacent sidewalk path to continue using the Beltline.

The paved Segment 6 will create a much straighter and simpler protected route. It will run between the 1295 West Apartments (formerly Donnelly Gardens) and a large warehouse and office structure where Lee + White owners Ackerman & Co. are building out another 208,000 square feet of mixed uses, including Dill Dinkers pickleball facilities. 

Find more visuals and context in the gallery above. 

Southside Trail openings outlook 

Other Beltline tidbits of note, as outlined in the agency’s latest construction update, include fresh target opening dates (again) for Southside Trail segments. 

With almost all concrete pouring wrapped, work on Southside Trail Segments 4 and 5—the 1.2-mile section between Glenwood Avenue and Boulevard—is on pace to be substantially complete by month’s end. Beltline officials expect the gates to finally come down next month, with an official ribbon-cutting scheduled in mid-April. 

Meanwhile, the final Southside Trail gap is heading toward an opening in the first week of May (!), barring any additional delays. That’s a nearly two-mile section (Segments 2 and 3) that links from Boulevard around to the Pittsburgh Yards complex south of downtown. 

Work on landscaping and some punch-list items is expected to continue through early June, just before 2026 FIFA World Cup begins. Landscaping will resume again in the fall, per Beltline officials.  

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• West End news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)