Sault Ste. Marie -
The UP's second largest city is the site of a $1 billion construction project decades in the making -
The US Army Corps of Engineers - Detroit District - is leading the effort to construct a new Soo Lock in place of the over-one-century-old, functionally obsolete Sabin and Davis locks. The new lock will be 1,200 ft. long - the same dimensions as the existing Poe Lock - which is the primary lock through which all commercial traffic moves. The new lock will add some much-needed redundancy to the system, so that in the eventuality that one ever goes off line, the other can keep running. Practically all shipping traffic on the Great Lakes passes through these locks.
The project, originally proposed over 30 years, finally got going in 2020. There are three phases of work -
- Phase 1 - Channel Deepening (begun May 2020 - on hold until Spring for winter weather to pass)
- Phase 2 - Stabilize Approach Walls (scheduled to begin Spring 2021)
- Phase 3 - Construct New Lock Chamber (scheduled to begin in 2022 and last until 2027)
At the end of 2020, the federal government passed an
appropriation bill that grants the project over $124 million in funding. Currently, in this winter's "down time", the USACE is proposing to construct "temporary" field office space in the historic Canal Park, which is immediately adjacent to the Soo Locks ("temporary" in quotes, because the prefab. structures will likely sit there for at least ten years). The structures will reportedly have a "semi-permanent look" - whatever that means, and they will eventually be removed and the site restored -
Quote:
Army Corps proposing temporary project office space in Canal Park
Sault Online | Media Release
December 29, 2020
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public comments through January 13, 2021 on its proposal to place temporary office space in Canal Park on the Soo Locks property in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
The proposed one-story, single modular structure, consisting of multiple pre-engineered structures linked together, will house Corps Integrated Project Office (IPO) employees overseeing the New Lock at the Soo project construction. The $1 billion lock construction project could take up to 10 years to complete, according to IPO Resident Office Project Manager Isaac Freel...
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Here's a view of the existing Soo Locks. The Sabin and Davis Locks are the two on the right -
Source:
USACE - Detroit District
And here's a diagram and a rendering of the proposed new Soo Locks. The new lock is on the left, in place of the decommissioned Sabin and Davis locks. Existing Poe Lock and MacArthur Lock on the right to remain -
Source:
Duluth News Tribune | Courtesy USACE - Detroit District
Source:
Duluth News Tribune | Courtesy USACE - Detroit District
Here are two photos of upstream channel deepening / dredging work from Spring / Summer 2020. Contractor is Trade West -
Source:
The Sault News | Courtesy USACE - Detroit District
Source:
The Sault News | Courtesy USACE - Detroit District
And just for fun, here's video of the
Stewart J. Cort - the first 1,000-footer to be launched onto the Great Lakes (by Bethlehem Steel in 1972) - passing through the Poe Lock a few years ago. She has a 105.00' beam and 49.0' deep hull.
• Video Link