U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow say they've secured the $450 million in federal funding to go toward the construction of a new lock at the Soo.
The new lock in Sault Ste. Marie will be the same size as the existing 1,200-foot-long Poe Lock — which currently has no back-up option.
Kevin McDaniels is a deputy district engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If signed into law, he said the funding would cover the project's cost for the 2025 fiscal year.
He added that their contractor's current pricing for construction of the "boat elevator" (option three) is set to expire in late September, and there may not be enough funds to award the contract this year. McDaniels said this could delay the project and divert 2025 funds toward option three.
"The exciting part is we're finishing that phase two and we'll be solely focused on phase three, which is actually constructing that new lock for the next several years," McDaniels said.
So far, $1.97 billion has already gone into the project. The total cost is estimated to be just under $3 billion.
"If all of our funding were to be efficient, and everything goes as planned, we would actually be looking to pass the first ship in 20-30," McDaniels said. "Of course, if we're not able to award this next option on time, we could see a delay in that until a later year."
More than 80 million tons of cargo move through the Soo locks on over 7,000 ships a year. With no feasible alternative to the Poe lock, McDaniels said the new lock will help make commerce and national security more resilient.
A 2015 Department of Homeland Security study concluded that a 2-6 week unscheduled closure of the Poe lock would halt 75% of the nation's steel production, and a six-month outage would have an estimated $1.1 trillion economic impact.
"Our intent would be to operate both of them, but you do have an existing lock that's over 50 years old, and that lock's gonna need some major rehab work done in the future," McDaniels said.
The FY25 House mark for the lock project was earmarked lower than the Senate's but has not been finalized. McDaniels said the final funding number is still subject to change and could go to conference.
