Albany
A good deal of the 524-mile Canal system should start to re-open for navigation through the locks by July 4, the state Canal Corp. said on Friday.
Work on the locks, which undergo periodic maintenance, should be restarting soon, and anglers and boaters already can get into the canal between the locks, according to the agency.
Openings will be staggered by region with much of the Central New York and Finger Lakes portions and locks set to open by July 4. The Mohawk Valley is set to open in stages from July 4 to Aug. 10. For other stretches, however, maintenance work on the locks won't resume until the surrounding regions are re-opened under the state's rules for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, said spokesman Shane Mahar.
For instance, the Capital Region is still on a pandemic lockdown, with all but essential businesses closed. The region's so-called PAUSE program, has been extended until at least May 28. Each region has to meet a set of seven criteria regarding the pandemic's easing, before reopening is allowed. When the Capital Region does reopen, work crews will resume work on the locks. That work was halted in March amid the start of the pandemic. The maintenance on the locks is expected to take several weeks before they can open.
In the Capital Region, that means locks at Whitehall, Waterford and Rotterdam won't likely open until several weeks after May 28 at the earliest, assuming the region reopens then. Those include Locks C-1 in Whitehall on the Champlain Canal, as well as Locks E-2 and E-9 in Rotterdam.
More details on the sectional openings will be communicated through the Canal Corporation’s Notice to Mariners notification program available at www.canals.ny.gov.
To the west, Erie Canal locks E-25 in May’s point and the Oswego Canal are set for opening by July 4 as well.
Mariners should be aware that water levels in some parts of the canal are low, due to the maintenance and navigation aids including buoys are not currently in place, but will be installed on the canal system as the regions open.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
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Rick Karlin covers education. A reformed ski bum, he has previously covered the Capitol, consumer affairs and features at the Times Union.
Before working at the Times Union, he worked at newspapers in Maine, where he covered the state Capitol, and Colorado, where he covered the energy industry and natural resource issues as well as government beats.
Contact him at (518) 454-5758