As the war drew towards its end, the Corporation of Sheffield pushed for major improvements to the system. While they thought that the waterway should be nationalised, they were in principle willing to part-fund improvements providing control by the railway company was ended. They commissioned Sir John Wolfe-Barry, Lyster and Partners to produce a report in 1919, and from the options suggested, chose to promote one of them. This involved increasing the depth of the waterway from Tinsley to Keadby to , making the channel wider and straighter, rebuilding the bridges to give more room through them, and replacing the locks with eighteen new ones, each . They were to be fitted with multiple gates, and be sized for 300-ton craft or four 110-ton barges. The estimated cost for these improvements was £1,483,426, but the economic circumstances of the time meant that the government was not prepared to support the scheme, and whereas the neighbouring Corporation of Nottingham funded improvements to the River Trent without government support, Sheffield were not prepared to do the same for the Don. There were also proposals for a ship canal from Doncaster to Trent Falls at the same time.