As engineers continue the work to repair the canals and river navigations around the Pennines following damage caused by the Boxing Day floods, the first significant lengths of waterway look set to reopen within weeks.
As engineers continue the work to repair the canals and river navigations of the Pennines following damage caused by the Boxing Day floods, the first significant lengths of waterway look set to reopen within weeks.
The Canal & River Trust told Canal Boat that it is “confident” that an isolated eight-mile length from Hebden Bridge on the Rochdale Canal to Salterhebble on the Calder & Hebble Navigation will open by Easter, as will the section of the Aire & Calder Navigation which was closed by a washed-away weir near Leeds.
The remaining sections will take longer to open: CRT says it is looking at early summer for completion of the remaining work on the Calder & Hebble including rebuilding the badly damaged Elland Bridge, while complex problems further west on the Rochdale including a breach and a major landslip mean that the best that the Trust can say is that it will take “several months” to repair.
Meanwhile local volunteer teams (pictured) have pressed on with repairing towpath damage, and the path from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge has already been reopened.
See the April issue of Canal Boat for the full story.
