The Muskö Canal ( sv, Muskö kanal) is an artificial canal that divides the island of

Muskö Muskö is an island in the southern part of Stockholm archipelago, which forms part of Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It is best known for the Muskö naval base. There are also two urban areas (''tätort'') on the island: Musk� ...

into western and eastern halves, linking to the south with Horsfjärden to the north. The canal itself is in length, and with its approaches has a total length of about . It has a depth of , a bottom width of , a width at water level of , and a navigation clearance of above water level.

History

Originally the two halves of Muskö were separated by a natural sound, but post-glacial rebound had rendered this route unusable by the early 1700s. The first artificial canal was constructed in 1719 by the

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as part of their campaign of raids at that time. Over time and with the land continuing to rise, the first canal became less usable and eventually, by the start of the 20th century, it had disappeared. In the 1930s the local fishermen proposed that the canal be re-excavated, as it would save them an hours voyage between their fishing grounds and market. In 1933 work commenced on re-opening the channel, as a

public works project Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

giving 52

unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...

men a paid job, and the canal opened in 1934. As built, a hand-operated bascule bridge was provided to carry the road between the two halves of the island, but this proved difficult to operated and was fixed in position. In the 1970s, a modern bridge was built north of the old bridge, which was left in place for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

References

External links

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Canals in Sweden Haninge Municipality {{Stockholm-geo-stub