St. Claude and Claiborne Avenue Bridges over, and Lock on, Industrial Canal

From north to south or going upstream.

Claiborne: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite) Judge Seeber Bridge

Lock: (Satellite)

St. Claude: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

The formal name for the Industrial Canal is the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IH-NC).

1957 Claiborne Avenue Bridge (Judge Seeber Bridge)

The blue lift bridge towers in the right background are for the Florida Avenue Bridge.

Street View, Aug 2019

2011 photo by C Hanchey via ArchivedBridgeHunter_claiborne
["This bridge was refurbished in 2013 with new concrete railings and a new coat of paint." [Matt Lohry comment on ArchivedBridgeHunter_claiborne]]

HistoricBridges_claiborne
"This vertical lift bridge, which also includes a long approach system, stands out in Louisiana for its large size."

Industrial Canal Lock

The Claiborne Avenue Bridge is in the background, and this view was taken from the St. Claude Avenue Bridge.

Street View, Mar 2016

USACE, New Orleans District posted
PRESS RELEASE: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, released the Final General Reevaluation Report and Integrated Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC) Lock Replacement Project for a 30-day public review from July 10, 2026, through August 10, 2026.
https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/4540034/usace-releases-final-ihnc-report-for-review/

Charlie Everhardt: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District This Project has had Final Reports since the 1960s. On opening day, I will believe it.

Michael Park: Here comes the Corp of Carpetbaggers. The most invasive species in Louisiana.

[I could not find an estimated cost figure. It is planned to take several years to complete the project.]

Charlie wasn't kidding, they have been studying the replacement since March, 1956.

@ 4:55

The plan is to replace the lock with a larger lock between Claiborne and Florida Avenues and to replace the St. Claude Bridge. Also, some of the flood walls will be replaced with levees for aesthetic reasons. (Are they replacing flood walls that were just built after Hurricane Katrina?)

@ 0:02

Part of the replaning: "The lock has been resized from 1,200 feet and -36 feet deep to 900 feet by 22 feet deep, reflecting the removal of deep-draft navigation following the closure of the MRGO." (I don't know what the MRGO was.)

@ 3:46
"The lock now ranks first in average transit time and second in average delay time of any lock in the nation. It's also increasingly unreliable with more frequent unplanned outages and a growing backlog of maintenance needs."

@ 8:08

I noticed the big crane in the street view at the top of these notes. I see that they also permanently store stop logs at the lock. So, is there a dedicated crane because of the frequency of emergency maintenance outages or because of the risk of draining the Mississippi River or because of another reason?

Satellite

The lock helps connect the Mississippi River with the eastern part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW).

@ 1:51

1919 St. Claude Avenue Bridges

@ 4:23

2010 photo by Bob Morgan via BridgeHunter_claude

As part of the lock replacement, this Strauss bridge will be replaced by a trunnion bridge.

@ 6:14

Another view of the stop-log crane. This bridge was originally built for rail and highway, then it was converted to just highway.

Street View, Mar 2023

Lift Bridge E206 over Barge Canal in Knowlesville, NY and a level part of the canal

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

nycanalmap

Cori Wilson posted six images with the comment:

The Erie Canal’s Transformative Impact on Knowlesville, New York

Knowlesville, a small hamlet in the Town of Ridgeway, Orleans County, New York, owes its development and early prosperity almost entirely to the Erie Canal. Before the canal’s completion in 1825, the area was sparsely settled farmland. The waterway turned it into a bustling shipping and commercial hub that served surrounding agricultural communities.

Pioneer Beginnings

William Knowles, the hamlet’s namesake, arrived in 1815 and cleared land on lot 3. He built the first log cabin and established an ashery for potash production. A handful of other families settled nearby, but the area remained rural and isolated, with Oak Orchard on the Ridge Road serving as the main local settlement.

The Canal Boom Begins (1825)

The opening of the Erie Canal dramatically changed Knowlesville’s fortunes. William Knowles built the first framed house in 1825 on the south side of the canal, which doubled as the area’s first tavern/hotel. He also constructed the first warehouse that same year. Stores soon followed, and the village quickly became a key shipping point.

In 1827, Knowles loaded the first boatload of grain shipped from Orleans County—20,000 bushels of wheat—marking the start of regular commercial traffic. Warehouses, grain elevators, and docks lined the canal banks. Barrels of apples and other local produce joined wheat as major exports. Packet boats and freight vessels stopped regularly, bringing passengers, crews, and teams of horses and mules that required stables, supplies, and lodging.

Growth of a Canal Village

The canal spurred rapid community development. A post office opened in 1826, initially called Portville before being renamed Knowlesville. Churches were organized (Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist), schools were established, and businesses including groceries, a tannery, blacksmith shop, and carpenter services appeared.

The village grew along both sides of the canal, with Main Street becoming its commercial spine. Infrastructure included bridges and later a lift bridge (Bridge E-206) at Knowlesville Road. Railroads arrived in the area, creating notable crossings and bridges over the canal, as seen in early 20th-century photographs.

At its peak, Knowlesville featured hotels (most notably the American Hotel/Knowlesville Hotel), multiple stores, warehouses, and shipping operations. It functioned as a vital stopping point and trading center for the surrounding countryside.

Fire and Transition

A devastating fire on July 21, 1913, destroyed the prominent Knowlesville Hotel and nearby buildings, causing an estimated $27,000 in losses and temporarily disrupting canal traffic due to damage affecting the lift bridge. The hotel was later rebuilt, but the incident highlighted the vulnerabilities of wooden canal-era structures.

As canal traffic evolved with enlargements, competition from railroads, and the shift to the modern New York State Barge Canal, Knowlesville’s prominence gradually declined. It settled into its current role as a quiet historic hamlet.

Lasting Legacy

The Erie Canal provided cheap, reliable transportation that connected local farmers to distant markets, fueling commercial agriculture and New York State’s economic growth. Knowlesville exemplified this broader impact—transforming from wilderness to a thriving canal port in just a few years.

Today, Knowlesville retains its historic character within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Its lift bridge and surviving canal-side features serve as tangible reminders of the waterway that built the village. The story of Knowlesville remains a classic example of how the Erie Canal created and sustained communities across New York

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While looking for a street view of the bridge, I was reminded that the canal builders sometimes had to pile up dirt rather than dig it out. The embankment on the right is holding the canal water.

Street View, Sep 2025

I knew that long stretches of the canal are on relatively level ground and don't have locks. The embankment in this town reminded me that the Medina Culvert is just west of here. That embankment is so high that they built a road through it.

John Kucko Digital posted via Dennis DeBruler
Footbridge on the Move (update):  TERRIFIC sight on this sun splashed morning at the Medina Culvert—the ONLY spot on the entire Erie Canal where vehicles go UNDER the historic waterway.  Barge 2 carrying that pedestrian footbridge to Buffalo—where it will span the 190 at Ralph Wilson Park—has just crossed over the tunnel as it proceeds west toward Buffalo.

In the stretches that have locks, the Barge Canal doesn't use the Enlarged Canal route. In some areas, they built close to the Enlarged Canal and in other areas they took a totally different route. But in this flat section, the Barge Canal uses the same route as the Enlarged Canal. They just dug out, or piled up, more dirt. This flat stretch runs from the Niagara Escarpment in Lockport (Locks #34 and #35) west of here to Lock #33 east of here.

Steam-Driven Lift Bridge over Oswego Canal

(Satellite?, I don't even know which town this was in.)

Erie Canal Overview

Cori Willson posted two photos with the comment: "The West Shore Railroad crossed the Oswego Canal on this steam-operated vertical-lift bridge. The engine and its attendants occupied the small control house on top, which rode upward each time the cables rolled over the four large sheaves to raise the bridge span. This photograph was taken in the early 1880s. Within a few years, the coal sheds and stationary crane visible here (used for unloading canal boats) were replaced by modern coal pockets and a traveling steam elevator for distributing coal from the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company (see second photograph)."

EricGinny Baker: Where is this photo located? [no answer]

Lincoln Sander IV: The West Shore was completed in 1885.

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As Lincoln's comment suggests, Cori probably has the wrong railroad. The only railroads I could find near the Oswego Canal were New York Central & Hudson River, New York Ontario & Western and Delaware Lackawanna & Western. 

1900/00 Fulton and Oswego Quads @ 62,500

And the only place I could find any railroad crossing the the canal was in Oswego, NY.

Digitally Zoomed

This bridge is on the correct angle, but it is way too high to be the bridge in the photos.

Street View, May 2012

Lost Bridge #20 over Welland Canal in Port Colborne, ON.

Lift: (Satellite)

Swing: (Satellite)

These bridges are (swing) and was (lift) on the Welland Canal.

John Greggio posted nine photos with the comment: "The Canadian National Railway Bridge (Bridge 20) Being Decommissioned 1997."

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The swing bridge:

Street View, May 2025

Barry Westhouse commented on John's post
An approach span consisting of a CN swing bridge on the west side of the canal remains in place, Bridge 21 (Clarence St) in the background. - I believe CSL Whitefish Bay is also in my photo - July 2018.

1914 Lift and Truss Bridges over Barge and Enlarged Erie Canals in Medina, NY

Prospect Lift: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Glenwood Truss: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Horan Truss: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

The Barge Canal used the same route as the Erie Canal through Medina.

Prospect Lift Bridge

Looking East:

2009 Photo by James Baughn via BridgeHunter_prospect

Looking West:

Richard Torbett, Sep 2022

Dane Kantner, May 2018

Glenwood Truss Bridge

Street View, Aug 2025

They must drain the canal in the Winter.

2020 Photo by Josh Schmid via BridgeHunter_glenwood, cropped

1914 is in the transition period between pin connected and riveted gussets. Most bridge designers choose one method or the other. These trusses used both.

Street View, Aug 2025

2009 Photo by James Baughn via BridgeHunter_glenwood, cropped

Horan Truss Bridge

Street View, Jun 2023

Josh was also intrigued by the hybrid pin-connected and rivet-gusseted design.

2020 Photo by Josh Schmid via BridgeHunter_horan

I learned of this bridge from photos of the Medina Falls and Erie Canal Aqueduct.

Max Wang, Aug 2021

Lost Chadwick Street Bridge

Craig Lacy posted
The Chadwick Street bridge east of Medina connecting State Street to Horan Road seen in 1913.  This bridge was removed and another relocated further west as part of the barge canal project.  A typical  Whipple type bridge.

Lost Church Street Bridge

Craig Lacy posted three images with the comment:

A few views of the "Big Bend" or Medina Loop as seen from the tower of White's Hotel looking east and the Church Street Bridge looking west sometime prior to 1913.  The Church Street bridge and much of the embankment seen disappeared during the Barge Canal expansion.

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Basin

Craig Lacy posted
One of the "Fruit Express" boats is docked in Medina's basin.  White's Hotel with its 70 foot [21.3m] high clock tower located on North Main Street is in the background. The hotel burned in 1923.