Dock Link Progress Check

Bright and early on a Saturday morning we were at the docks in Liverpool. The new multi-storey car park was almost empty when we parked before 9am. The buildings on the horizon, the cathedrals, Cains brewery, were still shrouded in hazy mist. The docks looked very picturesque with the blue sky and buildings reflected in them.
We walked up to Canning Dock, where the canal will eventually join the south docks. Work was continuing on clearing the site that once housed luxury car showrooms. The old yellow stone walls of Canning Dock are still visible but the brick basements and foundations next to them are being dug up. There are still mountains of rubble to be cleared.
The section of canal link which will pass by the new museum has had some work done on it. The tunnel on Mann Island and the tunnel from the Pierhead south basin have been finished for a while, they will be joined up to form one tunnel under the corner of the museum. There had been some work done towards joining the two canal structures.
The tunnel that will take the canal under a lawn in the centre of the pier head, in front of the Cunard building, has been completed. I photographed it before it is buried. The north basin on the Pier head has got concrete walls, and the opening to the tunnel under St. Nicholas’ Place is visible.
The road bridge down to the new floating landing stage is now in place. The site of the old floating road is now the route to the new bridge and is crossed by a canal tunnel. There is still no sign of any work being done between the St Nicholas Place tunnel and Princes Dock. I took another “before” photo of the site.
We walked around Princes Dock and then back along the river front and through Albert Dock.
Liverpool’s docks are already a great tourist attraction. There is a huge new shopping centre being built next to Canning Dock. There is a new Slavery Museum now open. The new Liverpool museum is being built now. When the canal link is open there will be plenty for boaters to see and do in and around the docks.