Welland Canal

Welland Canal Maintenance

Here are few pictures I posted a few years ago after the canal is drained.
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/15319-welland-canal-winter-time.html

Welland Canal Maintenance

Every winter when canal is closed for 11 weeks the seaway spends around 12 million dollars on repairs, contractors work 24 hour days 7 days a week to complete work.
Attached are some of the repairs.
Rankin Construction portfolio replacing lock walls
Staring this year they will replace all tie up walls over the next few years.
INJECT ALMOST $100 MILLION INTO REGIONAL ECONOMY

St. Catharines, Ontario (September 30, 2013) - The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) announced today that Oakville based Dufferin Construction has been awarded a contract to replace a series of ship tie-up walls on the Welland Canal. The contract, which entails the removal of the present timber tie-up walls and the construction of new tie-up walls using steel and concrete, is valued at $86 million. The balance of the funding envelope is dedicated to engineering, the purchase of various supplies, and inspection activity.

“We anticipate that a substantial amount of this investment will directly benefit the regional economy” said Luc Boisclair, General Manager Operations – Welland Canal. “Dufferin has completed work of a similar nature in the past for the Seaway, and was selected after a thorough tendering process”.

The tie-up walls to be replaced are located alongside Lock 1 (in the vicinity of Lakeshore Road), Lock 2 (in the vicinity of Carlton Street) and Lock 3 (in the vicinity of the St. Catharines Museum). The work will take place over the next four years, and is slated to begin in early October of this year and conclude in the spring of 2017.

To permit the construction work to proceed, portions of the Welland Canal Parkway Trail (WCPT) that runs alongside the tie-up walls will be closed for periods of time. In addition, portions of the Welland Canals Parkway (commonly referred to as “Canal Road”) will also be closed for periods of time. Signs will be erected along the Canal, to keep the public informed about the activity and the resulting detours.

Under the current outlook, the project will not impact the flow of traffic crossing any of the bridges that span the Welland Canal.

The Welland Canal is a vital transportation artery within the St. Lawrence Seaway, which serves to connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The rebuilding of the tie-up walls is one component of a $395 million asset renewal program that the SLSMC is undertaking over the next five years to ensure the continued reliability of the Seaway. Over 227,000 jobs and $35 billion in economic activity are supported by the movement of goods within the Great Lakes / Seaway System.

Horn Blower

I took a few pictures the other day with my phone, I will take a few more with my camera in a few days and will post them.

Horn Blower

Capt. Tilt it is a good thing you did sea trials a few weeks ago as you will now need an ice breaker to get you out of the marina now.
As you can see the bubbler system is doing a good job.
I was wondering why she was left in the water for the winter as I assume she will have to be trucked to Niagara Falls.

Winter 2014

Here are a few pictures of the Marina two miles west of the canal in Port Dalhousie, a lot of Florida captains have spent the night there.
It has been many years since Lake Ontario has had this much ice as she is a deep lake. The only thing going on there now is ice fisher men.
The picture of snow bank is in Orillia Ontario about 80 miles north of Toronto on the Trent Canal.

Lake Erie

Today was a nice day -8 C no wind to go for a walk out onto Lake Erie.
Lake Erie is now 100% frozen over.

Hands Free Mooring

The Seaway announced this week they are going ahead with the Hands Free Mooring Project.
They will install these machines over the next five winters. Five years from now they will not require linesmen on the locks.
Automated mooring at the St Lawrence Seaway - YouTube