Yes the Erie Canal is still in business today. Much of it is now recreation but there is still commercial traffic such as barges of corn from Canada to be turned into ethanol.

https://www.npr.org/2013/06/25/195426326/commercial-shipping-revived-along-erie-canal

Dewitt Clinton approved the idea from a man in debtor's prison who wrote letters of the idea at the time to the state, However other lawmakers thought it was a stupid idea and later it was referred to as Clinton's ditch because of DeWitt Clinton.

Yes there were other canals built because of the success of the Erie Canal. Canada built one and Ohio built several.

The construction was a great challenge because there were no machines to do the digging. Everything had to be done by hand or with animals. Irishmen were hired to do the digging because they worked very cheaply. Also America did not have any trained engineers so men had to learn as they went along.

The Erie Canal allowed transportation between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Erie.

Buffalo, NY is the westernmost city on the Erie Canal.

The goods that were coming in from other countries around the world could get to the west. The canal also let more people move to the west because it made traveling easier.

The Erie Canal was paid off by the tolls payed by the boats that were passing through the canal.

One result of the Erie Canal is that it was faster to get from one place to another from up the Hudson into the Erie Canal and after you can get any where from there. An even bigger benefit was the reduction in cost of transportation.

The two bodies of water that were linked were Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

A lot of farmers lived there and they needed water for there crops!

It took eight years to dig the Erie Canal.

Parts of it are preserved and parts of it have been filled in to build roads and streets. Parts of it have been incorporated into parks and along with other parts they have been used to promote tourism in different parts of New York State. There are more details on it at the link below:

The Erie Canal, had 1,000 deaths from its 50,000 workers. Some died from disease from swampy terrain, or careless use of gunpowder while blasting. Others died of drowning or canal collapses which buried workers under tons of rubble.

because it was easier for people to trade and import/ export goods to other contries.

The Erie Canal changed the United States because it brought food from the Midwest to New York City. It also brought immigrants from Europe that came to New York and wanted to farm in the Midwest.

Settlers shipped goods before the Erie Canal by going behind Russia, meeting their fellow kittens, and buying an airboat from them then riding out into the sunset. Cats.

In order to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers and to offer a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market. The Erie Canal was built as a passageway from the eastern cities through the Appalachian mountains. It was a trade waterway meant to bring resources back from and goods to the frontier.

The canal was important with the western developments and transportation among the vastly growing united states. it was a cheaper, easier way to transport goods down the stream or across the country.

The New York State Legislature voted to fund the Erie Canal because Dewitt Clinton thought that the canal would increase business to New York. The Canal paid for itself in two years.

Because canal boats were shallow-draft, flat-bottomed vessels, the original depth of the Erie Canal was about 4 feet. It was deepened over the years until in the early 20th Century it was dredged to a minimum depth of 12 feet to accommodate traffic which is primarily made up of pleasure boats.

It began in 1817 and was finished in 1825.

Lowell started building mills Lowell, Massachusetts in 1821. The Erie Canal opened October 26, 1825.