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 ...
Wife and I crossed on an ore carrier steamer from Two Harbors, MN., to Rouge Steel, north of Detroit. We went through the Soo Locks at 5 AM, just as a flare went off at a steel mill on the Canadian side. Huron was so smooth, we could’ve water skied.
What’s the max width and draft of the Erie Canal ?
:’) My pleasure.
36 foot Ta Shing Tashiba.
Blue water craft, ready to go soon.
Brilliant!
Your description of the new and old canals may have cleared something up for me. My mother is from Oneida and frequently mentions the “barge canal” and that it is not the same as the Erie Canal. Maybe the barge canal is part of the old one then.
I was born in Ithaca and left NYS when I was 6, in 1979. Every time I return it is deader and more desperately decrepit than the year before. It breaks my heart. I don’t think it’s merely native jingoism to say that New York has a truly glorious past, and has given a greater share of the improvements of modern life than many places, whether states or countries! Which makes it all the more tragic. But I guess it has given more of its share of progressives as well, so there’s the rub. Still, I keep a secret fantasy of its rebirth, if only...to live there in freedom and prosperity, it must have been a magical place in my grandparents’ days.
My husband says it’s on average about 200 feet wide, and the average depth is about 12 feet.
He told me to check his answers, so I did a search:
http://www.canals.ny.gov/about/about.html#heights
My husband says it’s on average about 200 feet wide, and the average depth is about 12 feet.
He told me to check his answers, so I did a search:
http://www.canals.ny.gov/about/about.html#heights
Where are you headed?
Very interesting.
Thanks !
I cross the Erie Canal everyday on my way to and from work. I’ve canoed on it (rental from the Genesee Waterways Center) and also boated on it with my brother. The town of Spencerport is just a few miles north of where I live and is a neat canal town, one of many, such as Fairport and Pittsford, that sprung up along the Erie Canal.
South! We are in South Georgia now, until I retire, then we are going to “Cut the Line” and take off.
Who knows, we might end up in Australia!
Until then, we are stuck with day trips around coastal Georgia.
You are most welcome. We went with this company one year. Great craft, lots of room for the 6 adults that we had on our trip.
The second time we went with a different company only because we wanted to explore another part of the canal. Boat was smaller but even cuter. The smaller size was not a problem because there were only 4 of us that time.
If you are in a hurry, this is not the trip for you. But if you like plodding along to look at the scenery and to explore quaint little towns, you would enjoy this.
Well, you must keep a blog, as you make the great circles, and you must send me the URL.
Is it too late to impeach Clinton? (DeWitt Clinton, of course.)
My ancestors helped dig that canal.
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