Photos: How the Atlanta Beltline’s Westside Trail looks right now

It’s been almost two years since some 500 dignitaries, media hacks, and curious Atlantans gathered in Adair Park for the ceremonial hoisting of dirt that officially marked the beginning of the Beltline’s Westside Trail.

Much dirty work has happened since, and the project is beginning to appear conducive to human habitation, as the below photos show.

The Beltline has certainly taken PR lumps this week — its originator Ryan Gravel and affordable-housing advocate Nathaniel Smith shockingly quit its fundraising board over concerns of inclusivity — but unless you’re convinced the project is a diabolical agent of lower and middle-class extraction, these recent pics of construction progress should excite.

Notably, longtime Beltline advocate and Adair Park resident Angel Poventud shared this image (below) of freshly poured concrete in recent days, calling it "major progress."

Angel Poventud/Facebook

For this installment of Visual Journeys, we checked in on heavy construction a little farther north on the Westside Trail. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Beltline officials reported at a quarterly briefing last week the project is on time and budget, moving toward completion next year.

When finished, the Westside Trail will be 14-feet wide (similar to its Eastside counterpart, which is roughly 1/3 shorter but actively extending southward). It will connect four parks and include 14 access points and a new bridge over Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Unlike the Eastside Trail, the Westside component is scheduled to debut with all lighting, security cameras, and mile-markers.

• Around Atlanta, recent snapshots from a bygone city [Curbed Atlanta]
• Photos: Hallelujah! Beltline's Eastside Trail construction begins! [Curbed]