Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift near the town of Falkirk, Scotland. It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The Wheel opened in 2002. The two canals it serves were previously connected by a series of 11 locks, but by the 1930s these had fallen into disuse. The locks were filled in and the land built upon. British Waterways had a plan to regenerate central Scotland's canals and reconnect Glasgow with Edinburgh and decided to create a dramatic 21st-century landmark structure to join the canals, instead of simply recreating the historic set of locks. Designs were submitted for a boat lift to link the canals; the Falkirk Wheel design won. The difference in height of the two canals at the wheel is 24 meters, or 79 ft, roughly equivalent to the height of an eight-story building.

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• #boat_lift
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