Lot restoration progress in 2012

In the earlier post on the river Lot we mentioned the elimination of Escambous lock in the navigable length centred on Puy-l’Évêque. This means dredging and rock-blasting to eliminate the weir beside this lock, to provide a navigable channel. The département Lot is now carrying out these works under a four-month contract, at a cost of €750 000. Dredging is also needed in the Floiras and Castelfranc reaches. In all, 5000 m3 of rock and sediment will be cleared to make the channel. Another €1.8m contract for restoration of the 17th century Floiras Lock is nearing completion. The lock-gates are being installed and the lock will be operational this autumn. These works will add about 10km to this navigable secion of the Lot, to make a total of 40 km. Complementary dredging in the Orgueil reach will be undertaken in 2013 to ensure navigability through to Fumel dam.

One thought on “Lot restoration progress in 2012

  1. Thanks for the update. The work being carried out on this ‘middle’ section of the Lot is impressive, I’ve seen it. To reiterate an earlier point, however, there has been massive and commendable investment in the last two decades in opening up this large and very beautiful river to navigation. But . .
    1) Access to the 75km lower section from the canal network is constrained by the unreliable Garonne Crossing which has meant that boat numbers using it are severely restricted, especially following Le Boat’s departure from Port Lalande in 2010 and which in turn has meant that the once significant economic/tourist benefit to the locality is now barely measurable.
    Last week I crewed on a boat making the crossing; this employed four pilots for some two hours, all told, plus use of the toueur boat (large engine going flat out for 3/4hr). All to bring two small craft across. I shudder to think what the cost was, but the charge was 14 euros. This is just not viable or sustainable.
    2) The 50km middle section, being restored and ‘nearly there’ is cut off from the lower section (and hence even limited access to the network) at Fumel.
    3) The 70km upper section through Cahors, which has a number of hire bases on it, is in turn cut off from the middle section at Luzech.
    The costs and technical difficulties to be overcome at the Garonne, Fumel and Luzech are considerable. I wonder how they figure in the light of current and past investment in navigation work (huge) and the economic benefit created so far (not huge).
    How is Lot-et-Garonne assessing this?

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