Canso Canal
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The Canso Canal is a short canal located in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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[edit] Canal location
The Canso Canal is located in the Strait of Canso, on the eastern side of the Canso Causeway, a rock-fill causeway which opened in 1955 to carry a 2-lane highway and railway tracks from Cape Breton Island to mainland Nova Scotia. The canal was built through Balhache Point in Inverness County.
The causeway completely blocks the Strait of Canso, which links the waters of St. George's Bay in the Northumberland Strait, a sub-basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with Chedabucto Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
[edit] Canal dimensions
The canal is 24 metres (78.7 feet) wide and 570 metres (1,870 feet) long with a single Seaway-max lock to account for tidal differences; "Seaway- max" means that any vessel capable of transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway will fit through the Canso Canal.
The Canso Canal Bridge is a 94 metre (308.3 feet) long swing bridge which carries the Trans-Canada Highway road and railway line across the canal immediately south of the southern end of the lock.
[edit] Canal operation
Vessels entering St. George's Bay to the west of the canal, or Chedabucto Bay to the east, must comply with a Vessel Traffic System operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.
[edit] Further reading
- The Canso Causeway's History and Impact [[1]]
