Voies navigables region Centre bourgogne

The Canal latéral à la Loire (, "canal parallel to the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

") was constructed between 1827 and 1838 to connect the

Canal de Briare The Briare Canal (french: Canal de Briare, ) is one of the oldest canals in France. Its construction started in 1604. It was the first summit level canal in Europe that was built using pound locks, connecting the Rhone-Saône and Seine valleys. ...

at Briare and the Canal du Centre at Digoin, a distance of . It replaced the use of the river

, which was unreliable during winter floods and summer droughts. Aqueducts were used to cross the Allier at Le Guétin (in the commune of Cuffy) and the Loire at Digoin. However, because of the extreme length required, an aqueduct was not built to cross the Loire at Briare until 1896, when the Briare aqueduct was constructed.

History

By the late 18th century with the completion of the Canal du Centre, the

Bourbonnais route The Bourbonnais route is a connection of four canals in France from Saint-Mammès on the Seine to Chalon-sur-Saône on the Saône River: It includes the Canal du Loing, Canal de Briare, Canal latéral à la Loire, and Canal du Centre. History ...

from the Seine to the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

was substantially the same as at present, except for the use of the navigable Loire between Briare and Digoin. The introduction of steam haulage and dredging failed to produce the reliability of the canals, so it was in 1822 that the order to build was finally given to the ''Compagnie des Quatre Canaux''. Although the original intention was to place the canal on the right bank, the towns of

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France. It was the principal city of the former province of Nivernais. It is sou ...

, la Charité and Cosne had no room for a canal and eventually construction started in 1827 on a canal on the left bank. Two massive stone aqueducts were built at Digoin and at Guétin to avoid level crossings of rivers with length 243m and 470m respectively, but this was not possible at Briare because of the danger of blocking the river during flood periods. With the adoption of the Freycinet gauge in 1879, and the upgrading of the canal system, the frequent delays of several days to cross the Loire at Briare became intolerable. The Briare aqueduct was built over the Loire in Briare between 1890 and 1896 by the engineer Abel Mazoyer to make a connection with the Canal de Briare four locks up from its initial entrance. The Briare aqueduct stands on fourteen piers. These support a single metal beam carrying a trough with more than 13,000 tonnes of water, 2.2 metres deep. The width of the aqueduct, towpaths included, is 11.5 meters and its length is 662.7 meters. Eight sluices make it possible to empty the aqueduct in the event of severe freezing.

En Route

* PK 198 Briare *PK 198 Briare aqueduct *PK 192

Châtillon-sur-Loire Châtillon-sur-Loire (, literally ''Châtillon on Loire'') is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 communes of the Loiret department of ...

*PK 187 left to Châtillon branch canal for access to the river

*PK 180

Belleville-sur-Loire Belleville-sur-Loire (, literally ''Belleville on Loire'') is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography A farming village with a nuclear power station situated by the banks of the river Loire, some ...

*PK 175 Léré *PK 159.5

Saint-Satur Saint-Satur () is a commune in the Cher department in central France. It is a medieval town near the river Loire in the former province of Berry. History Located in the area of Gaul settled by the powerful Celtic tribe, the Bituriges, or ...

or Saint-Thibault *PK 143 Herry *PK 125 Marseilles-lès-Aubigny *PK 100

*PK 68.5

Decize Decize is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. Geography The town is situated on a former island in the Loire ("en Loire assise") at the confluence of the Aron river. The right channel of the Loire was dammed up to reclaim land ...

*PK 53

Gannay-sur-Loire Gannay-sur-Loire (, literally ''Gannay on Loire'') is a commune in the Allier department in central France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of ove ...

*PK 41 Garnat-sur-Engievre *PK 29 Dompierre-sur-Besbre right canal branch to Dompierre-sur-Besbre *PK 15 Coulanges *PK 4 Digoin *PK 0 continues as Canal du Centre Canal latéral à la Loire Map

References

External links

Friends of the canal

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canal lateral a la Loire

Canals opened in 1838 1838 establishments in France