It is 8 kilometres (5 mi) long and flows from the Neva River near Alexander Nevsky Lavra to the Yekaterinhofka not far from the sea port.

The channel was dug in 1769–1780s by an engineer L. K. Carbonnier, its course went from the Yekaterinhofka River to the Ligovsky Canal.

By 1834 the Obvodny Canal turned into the south city borderline, more than 10 km long and 20 m wide.

The new French Basin started from the Obvodny Canal near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and turned West from Glinyanaya street.

From the second part of the century the areas around the Obvodny Canal became an industrial district, as a result the channel became an open wastewater sewer.