A historic $50 million capital investment in the New York State Canal System is included as part of the FY 2025 enacted budget.
As the state prepares to celebrate the Erie Canal’s 200th anniversary in 2025 and looks ahead to the next century of operations along the 524-mile canal system, this funding will help keep the waterway safe and operational. and is guaranteed to become a driving force for tourism and economic activity. Investments will focus on high-priority infrastructure needs, such as rehabilitating water-holding structures that have been in use for more than a century. Friday’s announcement coincided with the opening of seasonal navigation on the Erie, Champlain, Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca canals.
“Nearly 200 years ago, Governor DeWitt Clinton opened the original Erie Canal connecting the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, and today we know that the current Erie Canal and the entire canal system are safe and vibrant in the fabric of our state. We are making significant investments to ensure that it remains a vibrant part of the city,” Governor Hochul said. “As a boater who has sailed the canal my whole life, I know first-hand how important the canal is to our community. This funding will ensure that the historic canal will last for generations to come. and become part of the New York story.”
The funding included as part of the FY 2025 enacted budget is part of a comprehensive effort by the New York Power Authority and the New York State Canal Authority to revitalize the iconic canal system. This effort includes improving the system, including locks, dams, levees, culverts, and other private assets, to ensure that the network of waterways and trails continues to actively support the more than 200 upstate New York communities located within the canal corridor. This includes strategically repairing and improving infrastructure. .
Projects funded by $50 million include, but are not limited to:
- Renovation of a water storage dam built in 1919th and early 20sth It spent a century providing water for the Expanded Erie Canal (1836-1918) and other canals.
- An abandoned weir used to regulate the water level in a canal.
- Earth levee dam improvements, including the continuation of extensive work installing soil bentonite slurry walls to reduce seepage in Royalton, Niagara County.
- Rehabilitation of other water management structures that provide resiliency benefits, such as guard gates that can be used to isolate and protect sites during high water levels.
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