Author Topic: Notice to Trail Users - Detour on Empire / Erie Canal Trail due to Royalton NY Sinkhole (Read 240 times)

Doug K · « **on:** October 28, 2021, 10:47:38 am »

This out today, yet another sign that the NYS Canal System is falling apart from the ground up.

This is a new sinkhole, in Royalton NY, that has forced another Trail Closure due to INTEGRITY issues along the very tall Earthen Embankment there. It's all part of the reasons behind the new Canal Corporation Earthen Embankment Integrity Program, that is trying to address these aging and weak earthen water impoundments.

Topographical maps show the Erie Canal at 515' above Sea Level, with a surrounding area of Royalton & Niagara Counties at 475'-450'. That makes this earthen canal dam about 50-60 feet high.

The section closed is running from Wruck Rd to Peet Street which means this unsafe canal embankment is also 1.5 miles long. Both of those ends used to have "low bridges" with a buttress that would strengthen the dam, bridges are long gone since the Erie became the NYS Barge Canal.

These notices came out on Facebook and Twitter this morning

Notice to Trail Users - Detour on Empire / Erie Canal Trail due to Royalton NY Sinkhole

Doug K · « **Reply #1 on:** October 30, 2021, 11:19:39 am »

It appears that this sinkhole is funneling water out of the Canal, escaping through an old dead tree that has fallen at the Toe of Slope, some 30 to 40 feet below the trail along the crest of the embankment.

More to follow, including a video explains this earthen embankment failure just west of Middleport NY.

This IS an Embankment Dam Failure, and could lead to another breach, like what happened in Macedon & Palmyra in May 2021.

This IS the same thing that happened just a few miles east, outside Albion NY, in 2012, along the trail and canal - read about that here >> https://ecna.us/eeip/

Just to be clear...these are the very issues that the NYS Canal Corporation has been warning the public about, since the inception of their Earthen Embankment programs. They are trying to prevent sinkholes like this, and other embankment failures, from becoming what you see in the video below:

This Earthen Embankment Dam was deemed a hazard before it breached.

It is also the same height as 90% of all the Erie Canal embankments that are part of the EEIP effort

https://youtu.be/Hc3u_CHVHJ8

Doug K · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2021, 07:21:14 pm »

As promised, here's the new Canal Corporation video showing what's happened to the Earthen Embankment, that failed a couple weeks ago, in Royalton NY.

A trailside deep sinkhole formed, almost overnight, on a 50' high Earthen Embankment. The Canal Corporation used dye to trace the cause of the sinkhole, which led to internal erosion and piping from an old fallen tree along the Toe of Slope, about 80 or so feet away. It's a verification again, that the issues with these raised earthen embankments is real, this whole embankments could have slumped with just this type of dam failure.

Sinkholes indicate subterranean water movement...think about that a moment. Soil moves, creates a void, earth falls and fills the void, if the issue is self-healing.

Sometimes these just breach. This one is a partial failure of a water impounding structure... a "near miss" incident, if OSHA regulation was involved.

https://youtu.be/-5_-FpApNm8

It's all part of the new communication strategy from the NYS Canal Corporation, and their new website, dedicated to SAFETY of earthen embankments.

https://www.nyscanalintegrity.org/

News:

Author Topic: Notice to Trail Users - Detour on Empire / Erie Canal Trail due to Royalton NY Sinkhole (Read 240 times)

Doug K

Notice to Trail Users - Detour on Empire / Erie Canal Trail due to Royalton NY Sinkhole

Doug K

Re: NYS Canal Video - Royalton NY Sinkhole classified as an Embankment Integrity Failure

Doug K

Re: NY Canal Corporation video explains Embankment Failure in Royalton NY