Originally Posted by
petromax
From info provided on the Depth of the mersey thread it seems the silting around Speke has been aggravated by the training walls in the channel. It was quite unexpected that the sand banks in the bay would effectively move into the river. Change in the flow can be unpredictable. Will the 'basin' fill up with silt or will the sand move back into the bay? - hard to say.
If the river is barraged in not much at all will get inside. The sand banks can be removed and the river largely will be deep. A port can be at the airport then.
I am not sure that much dredging (relatively) goes on these days as the port operations are focussed so far north.
The Garston and Eatham channels are dredged and the main Crosby channel.
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Options that produce a largely self-scouring river bed seem more attractive. Also keeping the alakalinity of the water roughly the same rather than becoming 'fresher' is desirable. It's a clean river with lots of marine life and a delicate balance.
The training walls improved around WW2 reduced sand in the estuary and raised the levels by a few inches.
Roads don't seem to be our future. They cost too much on many levels and don't have great capacity. Public Transport, probably Rail, probably is but the existng rail tunnel is in the centre for good reason. It's on the desire line.
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A barrage can give road and rail crossing.
Leisure uses can operate on all states of tide if the river bed is better managed. More fundamentally, it's a rough, tough bit of water and part of the city's character. The sweeps and changes of tide are magnificent. I wouldn't want to see that change.
The currents are harsh and locking it in makes it better for leisure craft as well as others.
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