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#Post#: 915--------------------------------------------------
Another NY Barge Canal Myth Debunked - Canal Breaks
DIR By: Doug K
Date: January 21, 2020, 9:42 am
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It's not hard to imagine that a canal system, one that has 500+
miles of total waterway to travel, would have some issues with
leaks, breakage and other water containment problems. Of course
you would need two things to understand if there was truly a
public safety issue:
1) An open mind to understand & accept the information you find
2) A good Google keyword search to locate the critical
information
As an Engineer for many years in my career, I have had to do
both.
What I found odd about the topic of Canal Safety was a statement
made by the Facebook Group called Stop the Canal Clear Cut about
Canal Breaks in their website, in all the public meetings that
they attended. They were saying that the "only" time the newer
NYS Barge Canal ever broke (and flooded) was in 1974, at
Bushnell's Basin, when a canal breach & flood was caused by
Canal Workers doing some culvert repairs. They claimed that the
Canal is just fine, no problems and if the Canal Corporation
would leave it alone they wouldn't cause the same issues they
did in 1974. They stated to all who would listen that the
Bushnell's Basin incident is a reason NOT to touch the canal or
make repairs.
And not one person ever challenged that statement...until now.
You see folks, if they are wrong about this simple fact then you
have to ask yourself what else have they missed. What else did
this group say that seemed right at the moment, but under
scrutiny and investigation can be debunked. I took a few minutes
to do a keyword search today, to finally put to rest this false
narrative by a group fighting against fixing unsafe embankment
dams.
And it did come down to a simple keyword search on Google - Erie
Canal Repair Closure.
You can try this keyword search for yourself, and I recommend it
to those who want the REAL truth about the current state of the
NYS Canal System, it may surprise you. You will see three main
types of canal closures listed in the array of Google hits for
these four words.
1) Historical references to past original Erie Canal breakages
2) References to the amount of bridges being repaired that cause
some temporary NYS Canal Closure
3) Recent stories about NY State Barge Canal closures as a
result of breaches, leaks and or flooding.
The last one is the most important, as it paints a very
different picture of the INTEGRITY & SAFETY of the NYS Canal
System. What you will find is the complete opposite of what many
are saying for over two years. If those folks are wrong about
this simple idea, what else have they missed in their crusade
against the Safety of the Canal & it's thousands of neighbors?
Many people have stated that the NY Barge Canal is "sound" even
when all evidence suggest otherwise.
Here's a story about a canal embankment failure in Albion...
from 2012, where 25 miles of the Canal had to be closed
HTML https://www.uticaod.com/article/20120802/news/308029942?template=ampart
[attachimg=1]
Though we rarely have any flooding issues along the canal in the
Western Section, many folks in other sections have annual floods
that close the canal, here's one from 2013
HTML https://cnycentral.com/news/local/last-closed-section-of-erie-canal-to-reopen
[attachimg=2]
And another story about a similar event in 2016 near
Holley/Murray, again it was an EMBANKMENT failure that resulted
in this closure
HTML https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-30-mile-stretch-of-erie-canal-to-close-for-2016jun17-story.html
[attachimg=3]
This story came from the the Central NYS Barge Canal section in
2017, 17 miles of the canal was closed for high hazard dam issue
HTML https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler-news/17-mile-stretch-of-erie-canal-closes-for-repairs-reopens-briefly
[attachimg=4]
This is the story about EMERGENCY repairs being made on the
Canal System just to get it open for the 2018 Navigation season
HTML https://www.whec.com/news/canal-corporation-begins-emergency-repairs/4847295/
[attachimg=5]
And the most recent Canal Embankment Integrity & Safety work is
outlined here by the Canal Corporation
HTML http://www.canals.ny.gov/Earthen_Embankment/index.html
[attachimg=6]
It too has been the topic of many stories in local news and on
the Canal Corporation website
HTML http://www.canals.ny.gov/news/pressrel/2018/canal-corporation-begins-next-phase-of-embankment-maintenance-in-western-ny.html
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you look at these stories as a whole here's what it shows...
in 7 years, from 2012-2019, five of those years saw embankment
integrity issues, canal flooding concerns and now a NYS Canal
Corporation PROGRAM created specifically to address the 125
miles of Raised Embankment Dams that have now become unsafe.
There is no argument that supports the Facebook groups
contention, that the NYS Canal has only broken "once" at
Bushnell's Basin. In fact, these news articles actually show
that the Canal System is failing, at an alarming rate, and the
time to fix the issues has risen to the point where there is NO
OTHER OPTION for the safety & well-being of all communities who
have grown up along America's FIRST superhighway. Five major
floods or repairs in 7 years...
Of course if you want to ignore these stories and all this proof
that the Canal is broken and needs to be fixed...that's you
prerogative.
After all, there is a Facebook group fighting against Barge
Canal Embankment Safety work that has been allowed to do that
very thing since it started...
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