The Trent–Severn Waterway

The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386-kilometre-long canal route (240 miles) connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and Severn River. Its scenic, meandering route has been called "one of the finest interconnected systems of navigation in the world".^[1]

Length386 km (240 miles)Maximum boat length84 ft 0 in (25.60 m)Maximum boat beam23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)Maximum boat draft2.4 m (8') Locks 1 – 19; 1.8 m (6') Locks 20 – 45Locks44StatusOpenHistoryConstruction began1833GeographyStart point

Bay of Quinte

End point Georgian Bay

Trent–Severn Waterway Legend Lock km Georgian Bay  Highway 400 Port Severn swing bridge 45 Port Severn 387.1 44 Big Chute Marine Railway 374.1 43 Swift Rapids 361.2 Hamlet swing bridge 42 Couchiching 337.8 CNR swing bridge  Highway 11 Lake Couchiching  Highway 12 Lake Simcoe Lakeshore Road swing bridge  Highway 12 41 Gamebridge 290.9 40 Thorah 289.8 39 Portage 289.1 38 Talbot 286.5 37 Bolsover 284.9 Boundary Road swing bridge Bolsover swing bridge 36 Kirkfield Lift Lock 272.6 Lake HuronLake Ontario watershed Balsam Lake 35 Rosedale 252.9 Cameron Lake 34 Fenelon Falls 247.2 Lake Scugog 33 Lindsay 251.6 Sturgeon Lake 32 Bobcaygeon 222.4 Bobcaygeon swing bridge Pigeon Lake Buckhorn Lake 31 Buckhorn 194.2 30 Lovesick 184.7 28 Burleigh Falls 181.8 Lock 28 foot bridge

The total length of the waterway is 386 kilometres (240 mi), beginning at Trenton, Ontario, with roughly 32 kilometres (20 mi) of man-made channels. There are 44 locks, including 36 conventional locks, two sets of flight locks, hydraulic lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield, and a marine railway at Big Chute which transports boats between the upper and lower sections of the Severn. The system also includes 39 swing bridges and 160 dams and control structures that manage the water levels for flood control and navigation on lakes and rivers that drain approximately 18,600 square kilometres (7,182 sq mi) of central Ontario's cottage country region, across four counties and three single-tier cities, an area that is home to more than a million Canadians.

It reaches its highest point of 256.3 metres (841 ft) at Balsam Lake, the highest point to which a vessel can be navigated from sea level in the Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River drainage basin. The navigable summit of the Monongahela River (part of the Mississippi River drainage basin) at Fairmont, West Virginia is, at 263 metres (863 ft), the highest point in North America (the summit of the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal at its highest point of 406 metres (1,332 ft)^[5] is higher still).

The Trent–Severn Waterway is managed by Parks Canada under the statutory authority of the Historic Canals Regulations (which outline and delegate the responsibilities for navigation, resource protection, dredge and fill operations, the operation of boater campgrounds, etc.). The 386-kilometre (240 mi) navigation corridor includes over 4,500 kilometres (2,796 mi) of shoreline and over 500 square kilometres (193 sq mi) of water. More than 125000 private and commercial properties abut the navigation corridor of the Trent–Severn Waterway. The Trent–Severn Waterway also has regulatory responsibility and authority under the Dominion Water Power Act for the 18 hydroelectric generating facilities located along its route.