When the Trent-Severn Waterway 2021 navigation season begins on Friday (May 28), boaters can expect delays when travelling through the Peterborough Lift Lock.
Parks Canada will be conducting repairs until the end of June that will require modified lockage times for boaters.
“The Peterborough Lift Lock National Historic Site of Canada was built in 1904 and has been in continuous operation for 117 years, providing visitors with safe and enjoyable experiences,” reads a media release from Parks Canda. “Similar to other historic infrastructure, with extensive use, wear and tear, the need for regular maintenance is normal and expected.”
Boaters going up (north on the Trent Canal) will experience a lockage time of around four hours, while boaters going down (south on the Trent Canal) will experience a lockage time of around 45 minutes.
The actual delay experienced by boaters will vary, depending on the position of the lift lock’s tubs when the boater arrives.
Boaters will be asked to disembark their vessels while the transfer is underway. Masks are required to use Parks Canada facilities or to receive assistance from Parks Canada team members when a distance of two metres cannot be maintained.
Parks Canada has conducted two major maintenance activities at the Peterborough Lift Lock in the last six years.
In 2016, the hydraulic press wells that house the almost 67-foot tall cylinders that raise and lower the lift lock’s tubs were pumped clean of more than 110 years’ worth of grime, grease, and goop.
Between 2015 to 2019, Parks Canada removed vegetation from along the earth berm on the northeast approach to the Lift Lock as the roots of trees and large shrubs were creating subsurface instability.
