France's Rhine-Rhône canal project, initiated in the 1960s, aimed to create a navigable waterway connecting the Rhine and Rhône rivers, allowing large river convoys to travel between them. The project was officially halted in June 1997 by the Jospin government, with the decision confirmed by decree on October 30, 1997. By that time, the project had already incurred about 152 million euros in expenses, and the total cost of the 283 kilometers of work completed reached approximately 2.3 billion euros. Today, the infrastructure—such as bridges and locks—lies unused in rural areas, gradually being repurposed for leisure and tourism. Between 1968 and 1997, the French government acquired hundreds of land parcels along a 229-kilometer route, advancing the project with little public debate. However, by the 1990s, the projected costs had risen sharply—from 17 billion to nearly 49 billion francs, including taxes and interest. This increase, combined with the growing competition from rail and road transport, cast doubt on the project’s economic feasibility. Despite this, the government continued with land acquisitions and early construction, especially on the Doubs river. The total cost of the work already carried out on the 283 kilometers of planned waterways was close to 15 billion francs, or about 2.3 billion euros today. This figure includes expenses for technical studies, environmental assessments, and early construction efforts. When the project was finally stopped in 1997, it ended nearly 30 years of work and land acquisitions. Although the idea was briefly revived in 2008 with a feasibility study and again in 2009 with a proposed alternative route through the Moselle, these attempts did not succeed. The government was left with the challenge of managing a vast network of land parcels along a route that had become obsolete. Today, the remnants of the canal—bridges, locks, and other structures—stand isolated in fields, disconnected from any functional river network. The most notable example is the section in Alsace, which was designed to link the Rhine to the French river system but remains incompatible with the existing infrastructure, which still follows the outdated Freycinet gauge from the 19th century. These structures, built for the future, are now obsolete due to a lack of technical continuity. In response to the project’s failure to serve industrial freight, efforts are now focused on repurposing the infrastructure for leisure and tourism. Canal contracts signed by Voies Navigables de France for the years 2026–2030 aim to redirect the Rhine-Rhône canal toward recreational use, shifting away from the industrial ambitions that once justified its massive costs.