Types and Names
of Canals in Florida

This is a supplement to the Canals page of this web site.

CANAL TYPES
There are two primary types of canals in Florida: finger-fill (or bay-fill) canals which are constructed by dredging in wet areas; and upland (or inland) canals which are developed by excavating land and connecting the canals to major waterways.

Cape Coral, Florida long canal
Finger-fill residential canals
Upland canals are inland

Finger-fill canals: are long, straight vertical walled canals constructed below the mean low tide in low lying areas such as mangrove or salt marshes in bays, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands. Finger-fill canals are constructed by dredging, and fill material is used to raise the surrounding area above flood elevation to meet state criteria for hurricane tide and flood protection. Finger fill canals are constructed in any manner the developer chooses.

Upland canals: are excavated on uplands and the fill material is deposited where it will not leach into the water. The sides of the canals are reinforced by vertical structures. Upland canals are generally constructed according to local topographical features.

Straight canals, included in the above categories, have been classified into six major groups:

  • 1. Simple dead end canal: only one boundary open to flow
  • 2. Flow through canal: maintains flow at two open boundaries
  • 3. Comb-structured canals: has many relatively short, parallel, closely spaced, and straight or curved dead end branches
  • 4. High order finger canal: has one or more branches joining the main channel. They are second order if the branches are dead end. If additional branches are added to the first branches, it is referred to as an upward branching system.
  • 5. Canal with lagoon (basin): such as a marina that has an associated body of tidal water.
  • 6. Lagoon with two tidal entrances: has two associated bodies of tidal water.

    • Complex canal networks combine two or more of the above groups, with or without curves.

    SOME MAJOR CANALS IN FLORIDA

    The job was huge, but somebody had to do it.
    		 We need a pic
    here of the current
    work on the Kissimmee
    to round this out
    1958(?): Turning oxbows
    into a canal    		 2003: Turning the canal
    back into oxbows
    Kissimmee River (C-38): was channelized to improve navigation and aid in flood management. After 40 years of degradation of wetlands and wildlife, it was realized that channelization had been a mistake; work is now underway to destroy the canal and restore the Kissimee River to its natural path of multiple oxbows through a huge wetland.

    Miami Canal (C-5): Ranges 85 miles (136.8 km) from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes.

    North New River Canal (C-??): Runs 58 miles (93.4 km) from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes.

    Hillsboro Canal (C-??): Spans 51 miles (82.1 km) from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes.

    West Palm Beach Canal (C-51): Stretches 42miles (67.6km) from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes.

    St. Lucie Canal (C-44): was completed in 1931 for navigation and flood control for Lake Okeeechobee. It receives water from several secondary system and plays a minor role in water supply through the local region.

    Caloosahatchee Canal (C-43): Is 65 miles long and 50-150 yards wide. Water flow throughout the Caloosahatchee River is maintained in order to facilitate drainage and flood control, navigation, salinity control, irrigation, municipal water supplies, and maintenance of the Okeechobee regulation schedule.

    Other notable canals

    The Cross Florida Barge Canal, part of which was built and was meant to run from near Palatka in north Florida, across the state near Ocala, and on to the Gulf of Mexico, was initially introduced in 1818 by Secretary of War John Calhoun as a solution to the large financial losses being suffered due to shipwrecks and piracy.

    Construction was finally started to convert the Ocklawaha River into the barge canal during the 1930s, however opposition from within the state government and Florida's residents halted construction in 1936. Six years later, in 1942, Congress authorized a lock type canal but failed to alot money to the USARE to resume construction. Finally, in 1963, President John Kennedy endorsed the completion of the canal and congress voted a million dollar appropriation to complete its construction. President Lyndon Johnson set off the explosive charge that set construction in motion again. Conservationists rallied for seven years and the canal became an issue in the 1970s election campaign. President Richard Nixon finally stopped work on the canal in 1971. Although Federal Judge Harvey Johnson ruled that only Congress, not Nixon, had the authority to stop canal work, the Florida state cabinet asked Congress to abandon the project and restore the Ocklawaha River.

    In 1986 Congress officially deauthorized construction of the canal. As of 2003, final disposition for the fate of 13,000-acre Rodman Reservoir has not been determined, and removal of locks and restoration of the Oklawaha River has not yet begun. However, the lands originally usurped for the canal have been converted into the Margarie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. Carr was a major force in getting Nixon to stop canal construction in the 1970s. Here are pictures of the Cross Florida Greenway.

    Return to the Canals page of this web site.

    A collaboration of the Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida, and the Invasive Plant Management Section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

    CAIP-WEBSITE@ufl.edu
    Copyright 2003 University of Florida