Apeldoornsch canal
The Apeldoorn Canal is a canal in the Netherlands. The waterway runs from the IJssel river at Dieren to the IJssel river at Hattem and is closed off in Apeldoorn by dams with locks. It served as a lateral canal parallel to the IJssel from 1868 to 1961. The IJssel was difficult to navigate due to insufficient depth during low and high river levels, or due to strong currents during high water.
During World War II, the 42 movable bridges at the time were repeatedly damaged. When Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the Dutch army blew them up. Most of the bridges were restored or replaced by new ones during the war, but in April 1945 they were blown up again by the retreating German troops. The operating works of the locks in Hattem and Dieren were also repeatedly destroyed. Dozens of ships were sunk in the canal itself, but by early 1946 the entire canal was re-opened for shipping.
With the rise of railways and motorized road traffic, the importance of the canal diminished. There was still enough cargo on the section from Hattem to the Berghuizer paper factory in Wapenveld, but that also declined and widening and widening this section was too expensive. On January 1, 1962, the section from the Berghuizer paper factory in Wapenveld to Apeldoorn was closed for shipping.
The shipping traffic from Dieren to Apeldoorn increased significantly after the war, and in 1954 it was decided in principle to make that part of the canal suitable for barges, ships up to approximately 600 tons. A new lock was built in Dieren with a lock length of 75 m, with a dividing head into a lock of 30 m and 40 m respectively, with a width of 7.5 m, which could already be used in 1957. The old three-step lock was demolished.
Later studies showed that upgrading the canal would not yield sufficient returns and the section from Dieren to the Koudhoorn lock was also taken out of use as of June 1, 1972. Only the section from the IJssel near Hattem to the Berghuizer paper factory in Wapenveld remained open for shipping until 1982. In 1997, Rijkswaterstaat transferred the canal and its accessories to the Waterschap Veluwe. A commission established a future vision for the neglected canal in 2001, recommending restoration and making the canal navigable again. As of 2009, a small part of the north bank of the canal is navigable again: 3.4 km from the mouth of the IJssel to the Hezenberger lock. In addition, a number of bridges have been made movable again and prepared for the opening of the canal for recreational boating.