Councilors to hear Opechee Loop presentation Monday night

LACONIA — City councilors will hear a presentation regarding the latest and greatest going for the WOW Trail at their regular meeting on Monday night. 

The city council will meet at 7 p.m. Dec. 9, at City Hall downtown.

Allan Beetle, president of the WOW Trail organization, is looking forward to a bright future for the Lakes Region and enthusiastic about a project that will create recreational access around the entirety of Lake Opechee.

“It is an update for the city councilors and the public at-large,” he said Friday afternoon. 

Beetle hopes the WOW Trail, a recreational rail trail meant to eventually connect lakes Winnipesaukee, Opechee and Winnisquam, could run from Weirs Beach to Meredith in the future. 

“That’s our mission,” Beetle said. “To get to Meredith.”

The WOW Trail, built within the state-owned railroad right-of-way, runs from Lakeport to downtown, then through to the Belmont town line, connecting to the Winnisquam Scenic Trail. Between the first two phases of the WOW Trail (there’s eventually going to be four) there’s 4.25 miles of uninterrupted trail between Lakeport and Osborne’s Agway.

Phase III of the project would extend the trail from Lakeport to Weirs Beach, and the fourth on through to Meredith.

But in the immediate term, the Lakeport section is getting a meaningful extension. 

Opechee Loop would run down Elm Street to Route 106, cross into the proposed Laconia Village development (with hopefully collaboration), through Ahern State Park and eventually connect with the existing WOW Trail downtown near Bank of New Hampshire. 

City councilors gave their approval to the concept of a new recreational path off the Wow Trail — what’s now called Opechee Loop — in the fall of 2021.

It may take three to five more years to complete the entirety of Opechee Loop, but construction could begin as early as summer 2025.

“It’s more of a neighborhood loop,” Beetle said, adding a goal is to provide a safer way to get around the region by bicycle. 

There’s a WOW Trail trailhead already in place in Lakeport, at the corner of Union Avenue and Elm Street and overlooking Lakeport Square and Lake Opechee. In the plans, a sidewalk down Elm Street and up to Elm Street Elementary School is 10-feet wide, and eventually would go all the way to Route 106. 

“We already have three phases from Elm Street to Union Avenue and Elm Street School is scheduled,” Beetle said. A section between the elementary school and Route 106 will be long and challenging to construct. They’ve already got letters of intent for two more sections ready to go.

“That will be an expensive section,” he said. 

While the Opechee Loop project is set to go, the ultimate goal of connecting the WOW Trail through Weirs Beach to Meredith is an even more challenging undertaking. 

“There’s several hurdles,” Beetle said. “All significant hurdles.”

WOW Trail organizers need easements in order to extend the trail the whole way through because there’s not enough public right-of-way available. There’s also some public opposition to connecting Weirs Beach to Meredith, he said, and money is always a serious issue.

“I’m kind of a realist on this,” he said. “I’m not going to be a pessimist.”

But if the WOW Trail were eventually extended to Meredith through Weirs Beach, Beetle said the Lakes Region would stand to gain a lot. He said it could be a “destination rail trail” for all New England, providing safe cycling and recreational lanes for tourists and residents alike. 

The more people who can safely cycle, the better, he said, and noted the best way to achieve that is by creating separation of cyclists and pedestrians from cars. 

“It’s really a great set-up for this kind of amenity,” he said.