Annual Canal System Inspection Begins Today

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Officials are set to begin their annual inspection of locks, bridges and other infrastructure on New York's canal system. Canal Corp.

Director Brian Stratton and others start the first leg of the tour today in Buffalo aboard the Tug Syracuse in the Erie Canal Harbor.Inspectors will then check locks in Lockport.

The annual inspection is required by law. The Canal Corp. says the inspection of the nearly 200-year-old canal system is also a tradition that dates to Gov. DeWitt Clinton leaving Buffalo on the Seneca Chief for the opening of the Erie Canal in October 1825.

The system covers 524 miles and links the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, the Niagara River and Lake Erie.