Canal de Roanne à Digoin
| Canal de Roanne à Digoin | |
|---|---|
 Course sketch of the canal |
|
| Water code | FR : K --- 0142 |
| location | France , Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions |
| length | 55 km |
| Built | 1832-1838 |
| Expanded | 1890-1905 |
| class | I ( Freycinet class ) |
| Beginning | In the Digoin harbor basin |
| The End | It flows into the Lateral Canal à la Loire in the municipality of Chassenard |
| Descent structures | 10 |
| Ports | Roanne , Briennon |
| Used river | Loire |
| Outstanding structures | Oudan Canal Bridge |
| Kilometrage | Direction Digoin |
| Downhill | Direction Digoin |
.JPG) |
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The Canal de Roanne à Digoin (German: Roanne-Digoin Canal ) is a French shipping canal that runs in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions, connects the cities of Roanne and Digoin and in principle is an extension of the Canal latéral à la Loire (German: Loire-Seitenkanal ) to the south.
Course and technical infrastructure
The canal begins in the Roanne harbor basin, runs generally in a northerly direction and always runs along the left bank of the Loire River until, after 55 kilometers, it joins the Loire Lateral Canal at Chavanne (municipality of Chassenard ). This crosses the Loire two kilometers further with a 240 meter long canal bridge and on the other side merges into the Canal du Center (German: Center Canal ), which creates a connection to the Saône and further to the Mediterranean Sea . The city of Digoin is thus an important crossing point for the French waterways.
The type of the canal is a side canal that follows the course of the Loire without its own apex . To overcome the height difference of 37 meters, it has ten locks , which are designed for ships of the standard size Freycinet .
The canal bridge of the Oudan, called Pont Pisserot , north of Roanne, is remarkable , as in this case the river crosses the canal and not the other way around, as is usual. The bridge was built in 1897 by Léonce-Abel Mazoyer , who had completed the Briare canal bridge the year before . Like them, it consists of a trough made of mild steel ; the abutments were made of granite and porphyry .
Bridge of the canalized river Oudan over the Canal de Roanne à Digoin
Trough of the Pont Pisserot
Coordinates
- Starting point of the canal: 46 ° 2 ′ 25 ″ N , 4 ° 5 ′ 3 ″ E
- End point of the canal: 46 ° 28 ′ 18 ″ N , 3 ° 58 ′ 0 ″ E
Crossed departments
- in the Rhône-Alpes region: Loire
- in the Burgundy region: Saône-et-Loire
- in the Auvergne region: Allier
Places on the river
List of locks
- Roanne
- Cornillon
- Briennon
- Artaix
- Montgrailloux
- Chambilly
- Bourg-le-Comte
- Chassenard
- Bows
- Bretons
history
The canal is one of many shipping canals that were defined by law by the French General Director for Roads and Bridges Louis Becquey in 1821/1822. The aim of the canal was to replace the unreliable flow of water in the Loire with a side canal in view of the growing industrial boom. The canal was financed by a Franco-Swiss company. The engineer in charge of building the canal was Pierre-Benoit de Varaigne . Work began in 1832 and the canal was opened in 1838. After its completion, it comprised 13 locks measuring 31 meters in length and 5.20 meters in width. This corresponded to the norm set by Louis Becquey, which is why it is also called "Becquey size". In 1863 the canal was bought back by the state, who tried to make various changes to make it more competitive with rail transport.
In the years 1890 to 1905, the canal was rebuilt to the new size standard by Freycinet . The originally 13 locks were reduced to ten and their length increased to 39 meters. Engineer Léonce-Abel Mazoyer (1846–1910), who had also designed the famous Briare canal bridge, was commissioned with this work .
The peak of the cargo volume was reached in 1917. Even so, the decline in its economic importance did not become dramatic until the 1960s. It was even considered at the time to partially cover it and to build an expressway in its place. In June 1992 the decision was made to no longer use the port of Roanne for trading. His successor was taken over by the leisure and tourism industry, which soon began to redesign the port for use by pleasure boats and houseboats .
The canal is still owned by the state and is only very poorly maintained by the state operating company Voies Navigables de France (VNF) because of the low workforce. Its sale to the local authorities is being considered as part of the promotion of regional tourism.
Web links
- Information about the channel in the Babel project (French)
- Tourism on the canal
- Oudan Canal Bridge. In: Structurae
literature
- David Edwards-May: Inland Waters of France. 5th edition, Verlag Edition Maritim, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-922117-61-9 .
- Voies Navigables: Canaux du Center. 1998, Editions Grafocarte publishing house ISBN 2-7416-0058-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The information on the length of the canal is based on the information on the Canal de Roanne à Digoin from SANDRE (French), accessed on February 21, 2020, rounded to full kilometers.