{"id":16607,"date":"2016-02-07T10:29:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T15:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=16607"},"modified":"2021-12-15T07:53:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T12:53:33","slug":"naviduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/naviduct\/","title":{"rendered":"Naviduct"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Twelve Mile Circle decided to stick with the aqueduct theme once again after the recent discussion of England’s Barton Swing Aqueduct<\/a>. There were other structures, equally fascinating in their own distinct ways. Some were large, some were unusual, and some offered elements of both. Many of those innovative structures seemed to concentrate in western Europe, an obvious leader in navigable inland waterways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Longest Navigable Aqueduct<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Magdeburg<\/a>
Magdeburg Water Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aqueducts designed simply to move water were interesting by themselves. However, I was considerably more fascinating by those designed to carry boat traffic above the surrounding terrain. In other words think of them as a bridges for boats. For more than a century the title of longest navigable aqueduct belonged to the Briare aqueduct<\/a> of the Canal lat\u00e9ral \u00e0 la Loire, the canal over the Loire River in France (map<\/a>). It was a magnificent masonry structure with a steel trough stretching 662 metres (0.4 miles). Then came Germany’s Kanalbr\u00fccke Magdeburg, or Magdeburg Water Bridge in 2003 (map<\/a>), considerably longer at 918 metres (0.6 miles) albeit more utilitarian than beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon it’s opening, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle<\/a> proclaimed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In what\u2019s being hailed as an engineering masterpiece, two important German shipping canals have been joined by a giant kilometer-long concrete bathtub… The water bridge will enable river barges to avoid a lengthy and sometimes unreliable passage along the Elbe. Shipping can often come to a halt on the stretch if the river\u2019s water mark falls to unacceptably low levels.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Magdeburg Water Bridge provided a vital direct link between two separate canals. These sat on either side of the River Elbe, the Mittellandkanal and the Elbe-Havel. So it essentially connected eastern and western Germany directly by water. It also connected to nations beyond its borders from Poland to France and the Benelux region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineers envision the possibility at the turn of the last century when construction first began. However, two World Wars and the politics of a protracted Cold War completely halted the dream. German reunification provided an impetus to renew and complete this effort, nearly a century after initial construction first began. Now it’s a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Largest Lock<\/h2>\n\n\n\n