WORK has started in Liverpool on the final phase of the ambitious scheme to build Britain’s first new canal for over a century.
Canal Link:
Engineering work costing £5.4m will see the new canal route created through the central docks section to the north of the Pier Head as part of the £20m Liverpool Canal Link.
For the first time in over a century, canal boats will be able to navigate the 127-mile Leeds-Liverpool canal straight into the heart of the Albert Dock system.
British Waterways regeneration manager Martin Clarke said progress on the overall canal link is now visible.
Mr Clarke added: “The central docks section will link the Pier Head to the end of the existing canal at Stanley Dock.
“We’re working closely with Peel Holdings (owner of Liverpool docks), and this partnership will continue as their own exciting plans for regeneration of the waterfront continue to evolve.”
A new section of canal will be created through Trafalgar dock and the northern end of West Waterloo dock that were in-filled in the 1990s, along with the construction of a new crossing at the dock passage between Trafalgar and West Waterloo docks.
Dredging of the channel from West Waterloo dock to Princes dock will also take place.
The footbridge at Prince’s dock will be raised and a new fixed bridge and lock implemented, as well as an extension to the section of canal tunnel that was built earlier this year by Liverpool City Council as part of the cruise liner facility project.
The central docks section, which is being built by contractors Pierse, is expected to be ready in autumn 2008, with the entire canal scheduled for completion at the end of the year.
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A British Waterways spokesman said: “The construction will bring major economic benefits to Liverpool, echoing a time past when the city’s docks were a tranship hub for inland waterways’ freight.”
Funding for the £20m new waterway has come from the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Merseyside Objective 1 programme (European Regional Development Fund), English Partnerships, Peel Holdings and British Waterways.
The Pier Head in Liverpool is already closed off to enable construction work on the canal link to be carried out.
When the waterway is opened it will cut across the Pier Head, close to the new Museum of Liverpool transforming the area into a visitor destination of international quality.
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