NEWS RELEASE

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 114, Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Christina Novak
DCNR Press Secretary
(717) 772-9101

HISTORICALLY RESTORED LOCK CELEBRATED AT DELAWARE CANAL STATE PARK

NEW HOPE, BUCKS COUNTY (June 17, 2005) — Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Michael DiBerardinis today came to Delaware Canal State Park to help celebrate the completion of the only working lock on the historic Delaware Canal.

“In its day, this lock helped thousands of mule-drawn barges haul Pennsylvania coal and lumber to cities on the eastern seaboard, helping to fuel the industries that expanded our nation,” DiBerardinis said. “Today, it will help fuel an industry of a different nature—tourism.”

The park, stretching 60 miles from Easton, Northampton County, to Bristol, Bucks County, protects the Delaware Canal _ the only remaining continuously intact remnant of the 19th century towpath canal era. In addition to being a state park, the canal is a National Historic Landmark and the towpath is a designated National Heritage Hiking Trail. The canal is also a vital component of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and State Heritage Park.

This newly restored lock will allow mule-drawn boats to pass through a Delaware Canal lock for the first time in more than 70 years. To restore Lock 11 to its historic working conditions, contractors:

• Excavated several feet of sediment from the lock chamber and canal cross section.
• Rebuilt stone masonry walls on the downstream end of the lock chamber.
• Repaired or replaced timber portions of the lock floor.
• Replaced two timber miter gates, installed into the existing gate recesses.
• Replaced the upstream drop gate, which controls the water coming into the lock chamber, the remains of which are still visible.
• Replicated a wicket shanty that existed when the canal was in operation. The small building houses gears controlling the upstream wicket gates.
• Replaced the pedestrian bridge at its original location to allow passage of boats through Lock 11.

$1.1 million in Transportation Enhancement monies administered by the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT), as well as additional funds from the Historic Delaware Canal Improvement Corporation (HDCIC) and Growing Greener, funded the lock restoration. DCNR’s Bureau of Facility Design and Construction and Loftus Construction, based in Cinnaminson, NJ, spearheaded the project, which began in January 2004. Work was completed on the $1.2 million project in February.

DiBerardinis praised the efforts of the HDCIC, an organization formed in 2000 to raise funds for canal restoration projects and enhancements to the state park. Over the last five years, the group has raised more than $1 million and was instrumental in the acquisition of funding for the Lock 11 project. HDCIC has also secured $300,000 in funds for educational programs and facilities throughout the park, $25,000 to repair a section of the canal damaged by Hurricane Ivan, and $250,000 for an outdoor amphitheater, dedicated in 2003 in Easton.

“Certainly, it would be a very tough job for HDCIC to do this alone,” said James Revie, HDCIC chairman. “We are standing here today thanks to a partnership forged with the Friends of the Delaware Canal, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and DCNR to get Lock 11 designed and financed, then constructed.”

For more information about Delaware Canal State Park, call (610) 982-5560, or visit www.dcnr.state.pa.us.

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2005