Project of channel Meuse and the Moselle

Explanations and history

The channel of Meuse and the Moselle or channel of Ourthe is an industrial project undertaken at the beginning of the 19th century, between the Meuse and the Moselle. The channel would have made it possible to connect the basins of the Meuse and the the Rhine, allowing the passage of small embarquations (Betchete S in the area of Liege) by the solid mass of the Ardennes. The company, launched in 1827, will be affected by problems of financing. Uncertainties bound in the future geopolitical of the area and the invention of the railroad will undermine the project. The recognized independence of the Grand Duche du Luxembourg in 1839 will cause its final adoption.

Old visible traces

Important sections of this channel are still visible between Liege and Comblain-with-Bridge on the course of the Ourthe. In Bernistap (Tavigny - commune of Houffalize), under the Belgo-Luxembourg border, a tunnel of a few 2,5 kilometers is still visible (classified historic building in 1988 and inside private properties). Work of art is the high point of the course (Summit pond), connecting the basin mosan of Ourthe and the basin native of the Moselle region of the Woltz.

The channel of Ourthe

As the project of the Meuse-Moselle channel which was designed as channel with Summit pond has being given up for the reasons referred to above one anyway started again the building site to build a side Canal in Ourthe and which was brought into service in 1847.

On this channel 17 locks had been built between Angleur and Comblain-with-Bridge.

N° 1 Angleur

First lock located at the p.k. 0,00 to about fifty meters of the mouth of its level downstream in the Meuse. Brought into service in 1847 it was destroyed in 1944 but immediately rebuilt after the war in 1945. It is the only lock which kept its doors and which is still in operating condition.

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