New York State Canal System to Receive $50 Million in Maintenance Funding
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently confirmed that the FY 2025 Enacted Budget includes a capital investment of $50 million for the New York State Canal system.
According to Baird, the funding will ensure that New York’s 524-mile (843-kilometre) Erie Canal will remain safe and operable for tourism and economic activity. Investments will focus on high-priority infrastructure needs including the rehabilitation of water-impounding structures that have been in service for more than a century.
Governor Hochul said the investment seeks to make the current Erie Canal, which connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, and the entire canal system remain safe for the state’s residents.
The funding included as part of the FY 2025 Enacted Budget is part of a comprehensive effort to revitalise the canal system by the New York Power Authority and New York State Canal Corporation. This effort includes strategically rehabilitating and improving the system’s infrastructure including locks, dams, embankments, culverts, and other civil assets so that the network of waterways and trails will continue to positively support the more than 200 upstate New York communities that are within the canal corridor.