Kirkfield Lift lock Status for 2023?

The Kirkfield Lift Lock is a hydraulic lift lock on the Trent Severn Waterway in Canada. In September it broke, or at least one side is broken. Current status is "Closed for the Foreseeable Future". Was hoping someone might be able to interpret what that means in a relative time frame. Is that, "it will be up and running in May" or "not sure if next year or the year after". Starting to plan my 2023 summer cruising, and the Trent Severn not being navigable from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay could definitely affect my routing.

Ted

They did move boats both up and downbound using the south tub, but it was a long process going up as the cylinder had to be pumped up. Passengers not allowed on board as they were raising or lowering, but they did get boats through. One trawler in our marina was able to get back well before haulout. While waiting for his appointment talking to the lockmaster there are engineers investigating, hopefully it should be operational by the spring.

James

I would assume that they are working feverishly on it for next year. The whole area would take a huge economic hit if the TSW is closed.

Their web communication isn't great. I've been assuming it'll be fixed in time for next season.

I was booked for the last lift of the season through Kirkfield, but got delayed by mechanical issues and didn't make it. In chatting with the operations manager it sounded like they had the fix scoped out and plans for getting it done.

Jeff F said:

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/...eclusage-lockstation/ecluse-lock-36-kirkfield

Click to expand...

Appreciate the update! On the link off of that site, they indicated that they expect the lock to be fully operational for the beginning of the season.

Ted

Kim Russo at AGLCA has done a really good job at communications and sometimes advocacy on these sorts of challenges.

I'll pass through any updates. For voyagers doing the waterways a membership might be useful. If nothing else it's a gesture of support for the organization.