The Courtenay Rotary Club netted more than $70,000 during its annual online auction in March and its live auction Saturday at the Filberg. The money will support the club's Trail Along the Rails project from Fifth Street past the train station at Cumberland Road to Eighth Street. The end result will be the Rotary Trail, akin to the Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria."Every dime of it's going to the community primarily to the Trail Along the Rails," said Art Meyers, chair of Rotary’s auction committee. Phase 1 of the project will consist of a three-metre wide, hard-surface trail for walking and cycling."Future phases are planned from there to the south," Meyers said. "We're providing a beautiful legacy."The east side of the tracks will be landscaped to create "a real people place" with benches and flower beds, taking some of the ugliness out of the place, Meyers added. The plan also includes murals on city buildings on the west side of the tracks."The whole idea is to beautify to make a real outdoor experience," said Meyers, who expects Phase 1 work to be complete by early-fall.Along with Courtenay Rotary, the City of Courtenay and the Island Corridor Foundation has supported the project, which could become the northern terminus of an Island-long trail corridor along the old E&N Rail tracks.reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com