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After 190 years, NY's Erie Canal a relic with a hefty cost
AP ^ | August 9, 2015 | George M. Walsh

Posted on 08/09/2015 8:35:10 AM PDT by george76

With little income generated by the canals themselves — recreational revenue is about $165,000 a year, commercial only $40,000 — the cost of operating them is now covered largely with highway tolls collected by the Thruway Authority. And the roughly $55 million operating budget for the canals accounted for a large chunk of the $78.5 million in losses the authority reported during the 2014 fiscal year. On top of that are annual capital investments in the tens of millions of dollars to maintain and improve the system.

The burden falls largely on highway toll-payers because of a decision in 1992 to shift control of the canals from the transportation department to the Thruway Authority.

...

A federal court ruled this past week that a suit filed by trucking industry interests should be reinstated. The suit argues the use of tolls to subsidize the canal system is unfair. If the Thruway Authority loses, the state will have to come up with another way to fund the canals because New York is bound by its constitution to maintain it.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: New York; US: Ohio; US: Pennsylvania; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: canal; commutertrains; davisbacon; eriecanal; gasolinetaxes; godsgravesglyphs; highspeedrail; highway; highwaytaxes; highwaytolls; taxes; tollpayers
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To: george76


21 posted on 08/09/2015 9:17:56 AM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: P.O.E.

Yeah. Low ridge should definitely remember it.


22 posted on 08/09/2015 9:19:50 AM PDT by ifinnegan
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To: mrsmith
Only in socialist New York could a beautiful canal passing through one of the most populated corridors in the country become a money sinkhole.

Here in our backyard we have a scenic river which actually supports scores of private businesses it's entire length. These range from large canoe and kayak outfitters to mom and pop snack and bait shops.

Interestingly enough you can find abandoned parts of the original Erie Canal actually doing this on a scaled down basis.

23 posted on 08/09/2015 9:20:30 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: george76

>>”Anyone who drives a car or truck knows our roads are crumbling,” he said in an interview. “Toll money should be used to fix roads.”

That’s crazy talk. Those political patronage jobs maintaining an obsolete canal need to be maintained!

/s, just in case.


24 posted on 08/09/2015 9:22:49 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: george76

LOL! California and New York, two of the most populous states, which are OWNED by progtards, constantly bilk their taxpeasants and screw things up in general.


25 posted on 08/09/2015 9:23:17 AM PDT by kiryandil (Egging the battleship USS Sarah Palin from their little Progressive rowboats...)
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To: mrsmith

Trains would have eventually killed the canals but trains didn’t really hit their stride till immediately following the civil war when our attention returned to westward expansion.


26 posted on 08/09/2015 9:23:23 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Sad fact, most people just want a candidate to tell them what they want to hear)
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To: JoeProBono

Are those contemporary pictures of the actual canal controlled by the state? Or of the older abandoned sections which have been privatized or localised?


27 posted on 08/09/2015 9:25:21 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: george76; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Thanks george76.

28 posted on 08/09/2015 9:27:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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To: mrsmith

I had forgotten that the Eire Canal is one of many canals that cross NY state.

"The Erie Canal is the largest of the four canals in New York State's 524-mile canal system. The others are the Champlain, which runs from Troy to Lake Champlain; the Oswego, from the Syracuse area to Lake Ontario, and the Cayuga-Seneca, which branches from the Erie Canal to the Finger Lakes."

3 mph is the speed limit for most travel.

Maybe the Teamsters should fire their execs and spend that money on their history.

29 posted on 08/09/2015 9:36:12 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: george76

Michigan owes its existence to that canal.

The first great American project of its kind. It was almost the 19th century version of the Apollo program. But it may be best to let nature reclaim it or preserve a section of it for a museum if Clinton’s ditch just can’t pay for itself.


30 posted on 08/09/2015 9:40:17 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: george76

$55 MILLION annual expenses and $0.2 MILLION annual income.

Lecture us again, Obama, about public “investment in infrastructure.” Only government would do something so incredibly stupid as this...and their excuse is “The state constitution made me do it.” The constitution doesn’t mean jack-sh1t to any pol these days, yet they hide behind its skirts when they want to.


31 posted on 08/09/2015 9:48:35 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: Vigilanteman

Both


32 posted on 08/09/2015 9:49:22 AM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: cripplecreek

I’m less than 5 minutes from the Ohio and Erie Canal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_and_Erie_Canal.


33 posted on 08/09/2015 9:53:32 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
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To: ifinnegan

Low bridge, everybody down! I remember the song from grade school.


34 posted on 08/09/2015 9:56:03 AM PDT by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: texas booster

I didn’t realize they had toll fees for the locks, maybe they should raise those fees instead and cut the road tolls.
http://www.canals.ny.gov/boating/tolls.html
Canal Map with lock locations, speeds, etc.
http://www.canals.ny.gov/maps/
I drive next to a portion of Champlain Canal frequently, Route 4 runs right next to it, does have some barge traffic.


35 posted on 08/09/2015 9:58:22 AM PDT by libertarian27 (FR Cookbooks - On Profile Page)
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To: ifinnegan

You asked if the Erie Canal can be turned into a “highway”.

It would be much cheaper and quicker if Obama, using his power as America’s most powerful “word-smith”, simply re-defined “The New York Thruway” as “The Erie Canal”.

Then the former REAL “Erie Canal” (all three of them) could be abandoned.


36 posted on 08/09/2015 10:02:27 AM PDT by pfony1 (Let's welcome some Democrat congressmen into the Republican party and OVERRIDE!)
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To: virgil

We sang it a lot, growing up in upstate, NY. I lived a couple miles from the canal in Fayetteville, NY. I always loved that tune sung with a good manly baritone.


37 posted on 08/09/2015 10:05:19 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
You mentioned you'd like to see the canal by boat. I found this fascinating webpage along those lines.
38 posted on 08/09/2015 10:06:09 AM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: ifinnegan
I have taken rides on the canal, fascinating history all up and down “From Albany to Buffalo”.
39 posted on 08/09/2015 10:14:23 AM PDT by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: mrsmith

And the ironic part is that the South probably financed 75% of the construction cost as three out of four dollars collected at the federal level came from the south (mainly VA, GA, SC & NC)..

Bulldoze it if it’s a federal money pit or let NY state fund it. I’m more than confident federal dollars worm their way into the canal coffers.


40 posted on 08/09/2015 10:47:49 AM PDT by Original Lurker
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