Canal latéral à l'Oise


The Canal latéral à l'Oise is a canal in northern France that, along with the river Oise, connects the Canal de Saint-Quentin at Chauny to the Seine at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. See under the river Oise for the continuation of the route; the junction is made downstream of the lock at Janville. When a canal is latéral, it follows the course of the river it is named after but in a separate excavated channel. The route described below is the 34 km of canal parallel to the river Oise and 103.5 km of the canalised river Oise.

History

The canal latéral was built in 1831 to provide a reliable navigation between Chauny and Janville, bypassing the winding course of the river Oise. Initially built to smaller dimensions, the locks were later doubled and enlarged to the Freycinet standard. With the opening of the Canal du Nord in 1965, it was decided to further improve the canal downstream of the junction with this new canal. The canal was made wider and deeper, and two new locks 100 by 12 m were built around 1970.

Development

The 16-km length of the canal from Pont-l'Évêque to Janville is projected to be replaced by the future high-capacity Seine–Nord Europe Canal.

En route

The PK numbers below go from 0 to 34 at Janville and then decrease from 103.5 to 0 at the Seine.