(The Center Square) – The Soo Locks, a major trade port located between Michigan and Canada, will receive a $235 million funding boost if the federal Senate budget plan is signed into law.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the Soo Locks complete more than 7,000 vessel passages a year, moving up to 75 million tons of cargo by providing a bypass to the St. Marys River, which at one point drops 21 feet over hard sandstone in a ¾ mile-long stretch.
“This is a project that’s been a long time coming,” Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said in a Twitter video. “We’ve been hoping for this, looking forward to it since 1987.”
The Soo Locks, located on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron by raising or lowering water levels using gravity.
The Soo Locks have three locks. Poe Lock uses up to 22 million gallons of water to raise or lower ships to water levels of other Great Lakes. It is the only remaining Lock that can handle large ships.
Construction of a new Soo Lock began in 2019, and it is expected to take up to 10 years to complete at a cost of about $1 billion.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers says moving bulk cargo through the Soo Locks and across the Great Lakes saves more than $3.9 billion per year in freight costs compared to moving the same tonnage by rail or truck.
The Soo Locks are closed from January through March because of ice.
“The Soo Locks are critical to Michigan’s economy and our entire country,” Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters said in a statement. “There’s no question that continuing to modernize the Soo Locks is long overdue – and even a temporary shutdown of one lock would have incredibly harmful impacts on Great Lakes commerce, jobs, national supply chains and our national security.”
The project previously received $478.9 million in 2022 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and another $214.2 million.
The House of Representatives is considering its funding bills. The Senate and House then must agree on a final funding bill and have it pass both chambers before being sent to the President to be signed into law.
The President’s budget for fiscal year 2024, announced on March 9, 2023, didn’t include Soo Locks project funding.
