Amsterdam, which is used to having drunks, broken bikes and an occasional careless car fall into its hundred or so kilometres of canals, but now it may have to face a different problem—canal walls falling in.
Last Tuesday, a 20-metre stretch of wall in front of the University of Amsterdam’s art and psychology departments abruptly dropped into the canal, leaving behind picnic tables and not much sidewalk, although everyone was able to evacuate safely.
Although such collapses have been rare, city engineers have been warning for some time that they could become much more common. An official report to the City Council in July said that many bridges and canal structures in the city are in poor repair because of deferred maintenance over the years.
City engineers are now inspecting the entire system to determine what work needs to be done; the city has set aside €300 million for repairs, but the total could run as high as €2 billion by some estimates.
