The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is getting $479 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to build a new shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The Soo Locks are a vital part of the nation’s supply chain with billions of dollars of cargo passing through every year. The new lock would replace two smaller, obsolete locks. Of the two remaining active locks, only one is long enough to handle the largest ships on the Great Lakes.
In addition to supporting the nation’s supply chain, the Soo Locks project will support hundreds of jobs. Project Manager Mollie Mahoney says, “We anticipate the construction will create roughly 1,200 jobs per year, and about 600 of those are direct jobs, most of which will be on site.” Read more here.