Here’s some good news if you’re thinking about cruising in the Northeast or taking on the Great Loop in the near future. The Erie Canal will not charge any tolls for the next three years.
The New York State Canal Corp. just announced it will not charge recreational boats to use the Canal or its locks and lift bridges through 2021. The tolls were lifted in 2017 to mark the 200thanniversary of the start of construction on the canal; the no-charge policy was continued this year. As a result, the Canal Corp. said, boat traffic increased. Indeed, it said 71,529 boats passed through canal locks or under lift bridges this year, a 3 percent increase from 2017. Previously, tolls ranged from $25 to $100, depending on the size of the boat.
Separately, the Canal Corp. said the navigation season for the canal would run from the Friday of the week before Memorial Day to the Wednesday after Columbus Day; in 2019, that will be from May 17 to Oct. 16.
The Erie Canal, which runs from just above Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie, was the second longest canal in the world when it opened in 1825. It is 363 miles long and has 34 locks, and is part of the Great Loop, the 5,500 mile long circumnavigation of the eastern half of the United States. It joins the Oswego Canal, which runs from just west of Oneida Lake up to Oswego on Lake Ontario. Read more:
https://buffalonews.com/2018/12/11/erie-canal-will-stay-toll-free-for-the-next-three-years/
