lthough a very limited amount commercial traffic still uses the it. Erie Canal is open to small craft and some larger vessels for most of the year. During winter, water is drained from parts of the canal for maintenance. The boating season runs from May through November.
In 1992, the New York State Barge Canal was renamed the New York State Canal System (including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego, and Champlain Canals) and put under the newly created New York State Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway Authority. Today the Erie Canal Corridor covers of navigable water from Lake Champlain to the Capital Region and west to Lake Erie. The area has a population of 2.7 million, and about 75% of upstate New York's population lives within of the Erie Canal. In 2006, recreational boating fees were eliminated to attract more visitors. The Canal System is operated using money generated by Thruway tolls.
The Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain, and the Chambly Canal and Richelieu River in Canada form the Lakes to Locks Passage, making a tourist attraction of the former waterway linking eastern Canada to the Erie Canal.
Travel on the Canal's middle section (particularly in the Mohawk Valley) was severely hampered by flooding in late June and early July 2006. Flood damage to the canal and its facilities was estimated as at least $15 million.
Sections of the old Erie Canal abandoned after 1918 are owned by New York state, or have been ceded to or purchased by counties or municipalities. Many stretches of the old Canal have been filled in to create roads such as Erie Boulevard in Syracuse, and Broad Street and the Rochester Subway in Rochester. A stretch of the old Canal is preserved by the New York state at Old Erie Canal State Historic Park, and in 1960 the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, a section of the canal in Montgomery County, was one of the first sites recognized as a National Historic Landmark.
Some municipalities have elected to preserve sections as town or county canal parks, or have plans to do so. Notably, Camillus Erie Canal Park preserves a stretch and plans to restore Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct, built in 1841 as part of the First Enlargement of the Canal. In Camillus Park and some communities, the old Canal has refilled with overgrowth and debris. Proposals have been made to rehydrate the old Canal through downtown Rochester or Syracuse, as a tourist attraction. In Syracuse, the location of the old Canal is represented by a reflecting pool in downtown's Clinton Square and the downtown hosts a canal barge and weigh lock structure, now dry.
In 2004, the administration of New York governor George Pataki was criticized when officials of New York State Canal Corporation attempted to sell private development rights to large stretches of the Old Erie Canal to a single developer for US$30,000, far less than the land was worth on the open market. After an investigation by the Syracuse Post-Standard newspaper, the Pataki administration nullified the deal.
The creation of a unified, statewide Erie Canal historic trail or greenway to attract tourism has been an elusive goal since it was first proposed in the 1990s. However, many communities along the Old Erie Canal have made progress in establishing parks, improving towpaths, and raising funds for restoration of old canal structures such as locks and aqueducts. Biking, hiking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, canoeing and fishing are among activities promoted.
The towpath is a good choice for an easy multi-day bicycle vacation. Many towns along the way have B&Bs, motels and campsites. The website of Parks and Trails New York Canalway Corridor has information on the Canal, and sells a guidebook (latest edition 2007) with waterproof trail maps and information on nearby places to eat, sleep, or visit spots of historical interest.
Parks and museums on the Old Erie Canal include (East to West):
The following list of locks are provided for the current canal, from east to west:
Note: There is no Lock 1 or Lock 31 on the Erie Canal. The place 