Month: December 2014
1924 film of a shipment of coal making its way across London on the Regent’s Canal
http://youtu.be/9hefWqfn668 This extremely interesting film shows a shipment of coal making its way on the Regent's Canal through various locks from east of central London through the city to the rural areas north of London. The film states that the canal was then 100 years old, indicating a construction date of 1824.
Navigation Map showing Indian River (Lagoon) (left) the short Haulover Canal and the Mosquito Lagoon
The Haulover Canal from the Indian River (Lagoon) to the Mosquito Lagoon
This seven-mile long canal connects the Indian River (Lagoon) to the Mosquito Lagoon. In 1852, the first chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Horatio Governeur Wright, supervised the construction of a plank board-lined 10 foot wide by 2 feet deep waterway after Congress grudgingly approved the expenditure following decades of debates over Congress's [...]
The Bridge of Lions over the Intracoastal Waterway, St. Augustine, Fla.
http://localsguidesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Bridge-of-lions.jpg Built in the 1920s, the Bridge of Lions, with its distinctive pride of lions placed at the four corners of the bridge, occasionally causes administrative headaches for the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), the state sponsor for the federally controlled Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Florida. The narrow opening and the minimal height limits the [...]
City of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Wade-ins of the Summer of 1961
http://youtu.be/pJ2ojO8n2vs On July 4, 2011, the City celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first wade-in by seven (7) African American residents wading in at the City's segregated beaches. The celebration reenacted the the first wade-in. The wade-ins lasted for six (6) weeks. The City filed suit in the Broward County Courthouse to stop the wade-ins. [...]
Palm Valley Bridge crossing Florida’s Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway
Completed in 2002, the new Palm Valley Bridge, near Ponte Vedra Beach, is the only bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida not owned or controlled by the State. This fixed span bridge is owned by the Federal Government and maintained and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its vertical clearance is 65 [...]
Dubai Boat Show — 2014
http://youtu.be/D6CbwagoDYk The 2014 boat show held in Dubai displayed more than 400 yachts and super yachts, including one of the longest super yacht in the world at 290 feet, from 50 different countries. The event attracted 26,000 visitors from 120 different countries. The United Arab Emirates is thought to be the 6th richest country by [...]
Canals: Crowded waters | The Economist
Canals: Crowded waters | The Economist.
Hewn out of the land during the Industrial Revolution, they were once Britain’s main arteries of trade. The rise of railways and roads made them redundant and many were left to moulder, alongside the old industrial areas of many cities. But, as those grimy zones have been spruced up, so have the 4,800km (3,000 miles) of canals that remain.
The former towpaths are hike and bike trails. Houseboats and sightseeing boats float through the locks. And actual commercial traffic is up:
the number of containers transported on the Manchester ship canal increased from 3,000 in 2009 to an impressive 23,000 in 2013.
The canals are being refurbished thanks to changes in government policies.
In 2012, as the government sought to slash budgets, it offloaded British Waterways, the state corporation which ran two-thirds of the canals, from its books. The Canal and River Trust…
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Cleaning Regent’s Canal
Regent's Canal. Located just north of central London, Regent's Canal links the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London. Here, a portion of the Canal is undergoing some long-needed cleaning. Since the 1700's, France and England led the world in Canal construction using substantially [...]
Florida’s Big Dig 
