PARIS — A wellness group is hoping to begin work to link two trail systems this spring with a 1.25-mile path along the Little Androscoggin River.

Ken Morse, partnership director of Healthy Oxford Hills, said the plan is to connect the trails at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School with those at the Oxford Hills Middle School.

“The project has been in the works for three years,” Morse said. “Most of that time is getting a license of lease from the railroad.”

At one point, the proposed trail runs underneath a bridge carrying the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad. Morse said the organization has received approval from the railroad and is currently applying for a Natural Resources Protection Act permit with the Department of Environmental Protection to ensure that the project will not affect the river or wildlife habitat.

Morse said that the goal is to make the trail handicap accessible. To that end, plans call for improvements to the beginning of the existing trail near the high school and the construction of a boardwalk near the railroad bridge where the bank becomes steeper.

Other work will include the use of a crushed stone surface and the installation of a stockade fence near the bridge to prevent people from trespassing onto the tracks.

A $160,000 grant from the New Balance Foundation is available for the work. Morse said he also plans to work with the schools to add interpretive signs, benches and fitness stations along the trail.

“Our hope is to engage all sorts of classes in not only helping to build the trail but building enhancement for the trail,” he said.

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