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Another big water user (europe.pub)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/microblogmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 15 points 1 week ago (6 children)

A few counties like the UK and Netherlands got in on the canal game early. Nowadays, the remaining canal networks there are mostly used for leisure (there are a lot of houseboats in Amsterdam, London, the English Midlands and such), though occasionally they hold their own for specific freight (the spoil from tunnelling for high-speed rail lines in England was often moved by barge rather than convoys of lorries).

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

    I live in the Netherlands, they still transport lots of cargo via canals. It’s one of the cheapest ways to transport heavy freight like cement. The canals connect to rivers so the barges can travel up the Rhine or Meuse to Germany . Canals aren’t just the waterways inside the cities.

    Also a €7BN mega canal is currently under construction in Europe https://youtu.be/VdWQQ1OCUPo

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago

    Canals are still used to transport freight in Europe. For example there is a canal in southern Germany that connects the Main to the Danube, allowing ships to travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea through rivers and that canal. Germany generally has lots of navigable waterways including canals.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Yeah, I live in Jersey (New), and we have the Delaware and Raritan Canal, named after the rivers it connects. Was actually used for a bit, and the idea of using it is fascinating. But now it's a 44-mile path and waterway through history, it's very nice.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    I used to live in an area that had a canal through it with what seemed like a nice walking path alongside it. Those paths are there because many boats going down the canals were actually pulled by horses walking along the path.

    Unfortunately, the path next to the canal in my area was full of groundhog holes, and it was nearly impossible to bike it or run it without riding or stepping in a 8 inch hole, which is just big enough to do real damage. And since it's a useless canal, there is nobody assigned to maintain it, which is why it's become a haven for groundhogs.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    Yeah, ours is fortunately a State Park, and gets maintained. The path is about 4-6 feet wide, depending, pea gravel the whole way, so good for walking, biking, whatever. You'll see people on the canal in the warmer months. It's a great resources and I'm fortunate to live so close to it.

    Go out there and make the Friends of the Canal group, and demand the change to a maintained canal!

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