Congress has reauthorized the project to build a new Soo Lock in Sault Ste. Marie. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Carrie Fox tells us the spending bill approved last week reauthorizes $3.2 billion for the project. Funding was first allocated for a new lock in 2018, and since then, Phase One of three phases has been completed. Phase Two will be finished in 2024, while the new authorization allows Phase Three to begin. Fox says the Soo Locks are the linchpin of Great Lakes shipping.
“The Soo Locks enable bulk carrier vessels to safely bypass the swift moving St. Marys River rapids where the water drops 21 feet over bedrock over a quarter mile stretch,” Fox said. “The St. Marys River is the only connecting waterway between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.”
A new lock should be finished in 2030. Since the project’s authorization in America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, the authorized cost changed from $922 million to $3.2 billion. Over the last four years, the project cost has been affected by labor shortages, supply chain disruptions and material cost increases.
