The National Park Service, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority, and the City of Cumberland, Maryland, is working to restore the historic terminus of the C&O Canal in downtown Cumberland.

Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to prepare designs and engineering to rewater a 1.1-mile segment of the canal and boat basin, and to undertake the construction project. Senator Paul Sarbanes will made an announcement Tuesday, August 6, at 10 a.m. at Canal Place in Cumberland, regarding efforts to secure funding for the canal restoration project.

Senator Sarbanes’ announcement included results of his efforts to obtain phase one funding to rewater the canal in Cumberland. Funds are included in a recently passed Senate Appropriation Bill for 2003 to undertake phase one of the project. The Corps of Engineers has completed about 90 percent of the design and engineering for the rewatering project, and if Congress passes the appropriation bill during the next two months, funds will then be available to begin construction in the spring of 2003.

The City of Cumberland is the local sponsor of the project in partnership with the Corps of Engineers. Congress previously provided $5 million in federal funds to assist with the renovation of the city’s combined sewer system that goes through the project area. The sewer system project should be underway in the fall of 2002.

Canal Parkway, a $40 million highway project, opened in the fall of 2001. This important project, undertaken by the Maryland State Highway Administration, was crucial to redeveloping the canal and enhancing the adjacent area along a two-mile corridor. The long-range plan of the National Park Service is to rewater two miles of the canal from the terminus adjacent to the Western Maryland Railway Station downstream to the Candoc neighborhood.

The C&O Canal National Historical Park manages the canal and will operate and maintain the redeveloped canal in Cumberland. The park plans on operating replica canal boats on the rewatered canal similar to ones they currently operate in Georgetown and Great Falls.

The National Park Service in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority, and the City of Cumberland, Maryland, are working together to restore the historic terminus of the C&O Canal in Downtown Cumberland. Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to prepare designs and engineering to rewater a 1.1-mile segment of the canal and boat basin, and to undertake the construction project.

Related Links:
CandOCanal.com - New discussion board for visitors to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.