Floods: re-openings on the way

摘要

The first significant lengths of the waterways which suffered major damage in the Boxing Day floods are on track to open by Easter - but it will be summer at the earliest before all routes are navigable again. The main routes hit by the breaches, bridge damage, towpath washouts, cutting slips, canal wall damage and heavy silting were the Rochdale Canal, Calder & Hebble Navigation and Aire & Calder Navigation. Following the start of dredging and repair work, CRT is 'confident' that an eight-mile isolated length from Hebden Bridge on the Rochdale via the junction at Sowerby Bridge to Salterhebble on the Calder & Hebble will re-open by Easter. On the Rochdale Canal heading further west, another three miles of dredging should see it open to Lock 15 by early May. Beyond there, it gets more difficult with a major landslip into the canal and a breach.