The Trustees of the Atlanta-based Ray C. Anderson Foundation have granted an additional $2 million to The Ray over the next two years, to fund important research, pilot projects and emerging technologies with the potential to shape the transportation infrastructure of the future.
The Ray C. Anderson Foundation is a private family foundation that honors and shares the values that Ray C. Anderson (1934-2011), Founder and Chairman of Interface Inc., set forth when he put his company on a path to sustainability in 1994.The purpose of the foundation is to perpetuate these shared values and continue the legacy that Ray left behind. Through research and funding, the foundation aims to help create a better world for future generations—tomorrow’s child.
The Ray was one of the foundation’s first key funding initiatives, beginning with the 2014 naming of an 18-mile corridor on Interstate-85 in West Georgia as the “Ray C. Anderson Memorial Highway.” In the year that followed, the foundation created The Ray as an independent nonprofit, empowering it to catalyze the corridor into a global model for regenerative transportation. Between 2015 and 2017, the foundation granted approximately $2.5 million in funding to pursue this work.
The Ray has become a proving ground for the evolving ideas and technologies that will transform transportation infrastructure. Current pilots and demonstrations on The Ray include solar electric vehicle quick charger - eliminating range anxiety for EV drivers between Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama; 7,000 square foot pollinator garden at the Georgia Visitor Information Center as well as on the highway shoulder in conjunction with Troup County High School as well as several projects across the globe.
Coming soon will be a groundbreaking for a right-of-way solar project in partnership with the Georgia Public Service Commission and GDOT. It will be the first time that state-owned and maintained right-of-way will be used for renewable energy generation in Georgia
Information: www.raycandersonfoundation.org
