New Soo lock project in Great Lakes gets $95M in funding
A rendering of what the new Soo Lock will look like once it's up and running by 2030. Photo via U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District.
(FOX 2) - The latest round of funding has been awarded for the colossal project unfolding in the northern Great Lakes as work continues on a new access route for the shipping industry.
The still-unnamed new lock is being built at Saulte Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula. It's expected to open to freighter traffic in 2030.
Big picture view:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded more than $95 million to an Ohio firm tasked with completing the third phase of construction on a new Soo Lock.
The funding will pay for downstream work, hands-free mooring, and ship arrestors, according to a press release from the department's Detroit District.
Constructed near the decommissioned Sabin Lock which closed in 2010, the new lock will measure 1,200 feet lock and 110 feet wide. Similar in size to the Poe Lock, it will add much-needed capacity to the aging infrastructure.
The main focus of construction over the next year will installing concrete and demolishing the former lock. Bedrock will also need to be excavated.
Dig deeper:
Construction of the new lock is taking place over three phases. The first two dealt with deepening the channel and building approach walls further upstream.
The third phase, which is expected to cost more than a billion dollars, began in 2022.
"The contractor has completed nearly $600 million worth of work through the end of May 2025," said Mollie Mahoney, a senior project manager. "With the ongoing new concrete monoliths construction, the new lock walls are beginning to take shape on the downstream end of the project site."
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Zoom Out:
While there are multiple working locks in operation at the St. Mary's River, most shipping traffic in the Great Lakes can only fit in the Poe Lock. The U.S. Army Corps estimates about 88% of raw material moving through the Great Lakes travels through the Poe Lock.
If the Poe Lock were to close unexpectedly, it would send ripples through the U.S. supply chain.
A 2015 study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found a six-month closure would cost the U.S. GDP by $1.1 trillion, and a net loss of 11 million jobs.
That finding was part of a selling point that officials used to leverage federal funding to update the shipping facility.
The Source: A press release from the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers was cited while reporting this story.