I believe that is the point of a bridge. Sure, you can't just walk straight over when there is a canal, but why should a boat driver have to take a long route when all you have to do is walk that extra few tiles to the land bridge? There could be made a few land bridges per canal to keep accessibility.
Horse travel is not always the best way to go, there should be a compromise for those who wish to travel via ship and those who take horses. Afaik ships can hold greater volume and can most likely get to places much quicker and much safer (especially with proper canals) than most other land based vehicles. Whist it may not be beneficial for the whole of exodus I hardly see too many negative implications from having a few canals.
Travel the existing canals and tell me how far you can get in a large ship without having to get out and drag the damn thing. The existing canals are in terrible shape, it's mostly the case of them being: too shallow and not slabbed or just a complete random mess.
Again i will say that there needs to perhaps be a compromise. Put up your ideas of improvement that can benefit both sides, let's not just stick to "NO CANALS!" submit some improvements and contribute...
Having better waterways would promote and increase in boat users. The fact that the waterways suck could be a contributing factor to the reason why not many people use boats...
