Recent History
Today the canal can be used by boats up to 64m in length, 9.6m in beam and 32m in height. The maximum draft is 3.5 m. By the mid 1980s commercial traffic had largely come to a halt with the canal being given over to pleasure cruisers with the exception of a few passages by grain barges. The oil trade ceased in 1985 with the closure of the petroleum depot at Quedgeley. In order to allow the A430 south-west bypass to be built the canal had to be diverted. The new section of channel was opened on 6 May 2006. In January 2009 a project began to replace the Patch Bridge swing bridge with a motor powered design instead of the current hand cranked system.
The canal links directly to the Stroudwater Navigation at Saul junction.
Read more about this topic: Gloucester And Sharpness Canal
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