Mittelkanal (Merseburg)
| Central channel | |
|---|---|
 Overview of the Merseburg waterways |
|
| location |
 Saxony-Anhalt
|
| length | 3.30 km |
| class | planned IV |
| Beginning | Saale |
| The End | Saale |
| Descent structures | Werder lock |
| Used river | Saale |
| Kilometrage | to valley |
| Downhill | North |
 |
|
The Mittelkanal , also called Mittelkanal Merseburg or bypass channel Merseburg , is an incomplete waterway project in the urban area of the cathedral and university town of Merseburg an der Saale in southern Saxony-Anhalt . The central canal should bypass the urban area of Merseburg with a length of around 3.3 kilometers. In the unfinished canal there is the also unfinished Werder lock at 1.81 km of the once planned waterway.
history
The use of the Saale for goods or passenger transport has been documented since 981. It is reported in chronicles of the Saale shipping that the water of the Saale river was dammed as early as the second half of the 14th century . The accumulated amount of water was used to operate mills and rafts. On October 21, 1530, Emperor Karl V granted the archbishopric of Magdeburg the privilege of free navigation on the Saale and permission to expand the river. The first wooden locks were used by the boatmen to handle freight traffic. Prince Wolfgang von Anhalt , regent of Bernburg, signed a contract in 1559 at the urging of Archbishop Sigismund to expand and secure shipping on the Saale. Not until almost 100 years later, from 1790 onwards, shipping on the Saale was further expanded. The Elector of Saxony, Friedrich August III. ordered the upper hall and the Unstrut to be made navigable. As part of the Elbe / Saale waterway expansion, the total length was shortened by straightening in the years 1933 to 1942 from 427 kilometers to around 413 kilometers. From km 124.16 near Bad Dürrenberg to km 0.00 confluence with the Elbe (at km 290.78) the Saale is a federal waterway.
description
The central canal is part of the canal project started in 1933 and closed in 1943 , which was intended to improve navigation on the Saale. This project also included the Saale-Elster Canal , which was to connect the White Elster in Leipzig with the Saale near Leuna and thus connect Leipzig to the North German waterway network via the Saale and Elbe and to the North Sea via Hamburg . The canal was planned for ships with a load capacity of up to 1000 tons, which corresponds roughly to today's inland navigation class IV . The central canal as a bypass canal with a tow lock should bypass the Merseburg – Meuscha and Rischmühlen locks . It branches off in the upper water of the Rischmühlen lock and meets the Saale again in the lower water of the Merseburg – Meuscha lock. The Werder lock was intended to combine the heights of the two old locks. The average height of fall in the new lock would have been around 2.40 meters. Due to the beginning of the Second World War , the work remained unfinished. The bottom of the canal was not completely dredged and the lock is missing the gates.
bridges
Today two bridges lead over the unfinished canal. In the south of the city of Merseburg at km 1.81 of the Mittelkanal there is a road bridge that was built in 1939. Structurally, it belongs to the unfinished lock and leads Werderstrasse over the Mittelkanal and connects the Gut Werder district with Merseburg. Their total length is 15.35 meters. The roadway is about 5.40 meters wide. Their height is given as 8.87 m.
In 1996 the Meuschau pedestrian bridge was built in Merseburg at canal kilometer 0.15. It is located just before the canal flows into the Saale at river kilometer 113.10. The pedestrian bridge is a wooden girder bridge with a central girder. The total length of the bridge is 49.20 meters and the width is 2.50 meters. Their height is described as 6.90 meters. The bridge enables pedestrians and cyclists to cross the canal between Meuschau and Merseburg.
Remarks
The Mittelkanal was a sub-project in the south wing of the Mittellandkanal. In addition to its importance as a waterway and the economic connection of the industrial areas, the central channel was also intended to relieve the city of Merseburg from flooding. Similar to the Pretziener weir near Magdeburg , the central canal should protect the city in the event of a flood in the Saale and divert part of the water masses past the city center.
literature
- Western European shipping and port calendar. Binnenschifffahrts-Verlag GmbH. Duisburg-Ruhrort OCLC 48960431
- M. Eckoldt (Ed.), Rivers and Canals, The History of German Waterways, DSV-Verlag 1998, ISBN 978-3-88412-243-3
Footnotes
- ↑ Directory E, Ser. No. 51 of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, accessed on February 1, 2018
- ↑ Magdeburg Waterways and Shipping Office , Werder lock road bridge, accessed on February 1, 2018
- ↑ Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Magdeburg , Meuschau footbridge, accessed on February 1, 2018
- ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of June 20, 2013, accessed on February 1, 2018
