Cotswold Canals - really making an impact on Stroud

摘要

There's a huddle of people by the wall of Auto Tyre and Battery's yard on Cairnscross Road in Stroud. Who are they? Customers who've nipped out for a cigarette, maybe? No, they're a bunch of local people who've come to check up on progress on a project that's turning Stroud back into a canal town. This wall gives a grandstand view of Merrywalks Bridge, the biggest project to date on a S25m scheme to reinstate six miles of canal, from Stonehouse eastwards through Stroud to Brimscombe Port. Less than a year ago a low-level 1960s causeway carried the A46 over the remains of the abandoned Thames & Severn Canal, just where it used to join end-on with the equally derelict Stroudwater Navigation. Now, the traffic has been diverted back over the old narrow bridge, the causeway dug out, and a new bridge is taking shape. The basic structure carrying the highway over canal and towpath is built. As we watch, the final concrete for one parapet is being cast. And meanwhile on the opposite side, bricklayers are at work facing the concrete walls and parapets.