Expect C&O Canal towpath breach to be there awhile

Rains from Hurricane Hanna in September 2008 turned a crack in the towpath into a chasm about 1.5 miles south of Great Falls, near Angler’s Inn. The break in the path has been there long enough to earn its own nickname, Angler’s Breach.

Officials at the C&O Canal National Historic Park have been trying to secure funds to repair the breach for over a year. Park Ranger Bill Justice said the repairs could cost approximately $3 million.

“This is one of our higher priorities, so we are looking at a variety of different potential funding sources and ways to make this happen,” Justice said. “Believe me, we are not sitting on our hands for this one.”

When the breach first occurred, park officials used dirt to temporarily shore up the canal and also installed a through path for cyclists and hikers.

Last fiscal year, nearly 152,000 visitors came to the Great Falls Tavern and Angler’s Inn in the previous fiscal year, near Angler’s Breach.

Fixing this particular area of the C&O Canal isn’t so simple, Justice said. Angler’s Breach has been a weak spot in the canal for some time; it first collapsed during Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

“Repairing a breach like the one at Angler’s is not simply a matter of pouring earth into it,” Justice said. “We’ve started a number of repair techniques that make it more capable of sustaining future damage and weather events.”

Rather than implement a quick fix, Justice said the park wanted to invest in the new techniques that would hold up better over time, saving money in the long run.

The park service is required to submit funding proposals with narrow applications for how the money can be applied. The C&O Canal competes with national parks nationwide for funding, according to Justice.

“Usually, we’re quite successful,” Justice said. “We’re going to keep at it and keep working to make sure this particular project gets funded. … It’s just a matter of time.”