The $3.2-billion New Lock at the Soo is taking shape in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District recently awarded a $222.7-million contract option to the project’s final phase contractor, Kokosing Alberici Traylor LLC.

The project is replacing existing Sabin and Davis locks with one larger lock to accommodate modern 1,000-ft “laker” cargo vessels as they traverse the 21-ft elevation change on the St. Marys River between Michigan and Ontario to travel between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes. The new lock would have a chamber measuring 1,200-ft long, 110-ft wide and 32-ft deep. 

One of the Soo Locks, the Poe Lock, is already the same dimensions of the future lock. But with just one lock able to accommodate larger modern laker vessels, more than 88% of commodity tonnage passing through the locks must go through the Poe. Having the second large lock will allow the Corps to perform needed rehabilitation work on the Poe Lock. Congress authorized funding for the project at its current cost in 2022. 

“The leadership team throughout the Corps of Engineers have made the New Lock at the Soo project a national priority and we have continued to see strong support every step along the way,” said Kevin McDaniels, district senior civilian, in a statement. 

The newly awarded contract option covers construction of the lock floor, installation of mechanical and electrical systems, completion of a filling and emptying system, placement of soil between the new lock and the old Davis Lock plus commissioning of the new lock chamber, according to Darin White, technical lead on the project for the Corps’ Inland Navigation Design Center.

Kokosing Alberici Traylor, a joint venture of Westerville, Ohio-based Kokosing Industrial, St. Louis-based Alberici Constructors and Evansville, Ind.-based Traylor Bros., began work on the base $1.1-billion Phase 3 contract in 2022. Corps of Engineers officials structured the contract with $794.5 million in contract options to be awarded as funding becomes available. All the options are needed for completion of the functioning lock.

Three options worth $95.3 million remain to be awarded, and Corps officials said they expect that to happen over the next year. 

Work is on schedule for completion in 2030, according to the Corps. 

Mollie Mahoney, senior project manager for the Corps, said in a statement that Kokosing Alberici Traylor had completed more than $400 million worth of work through the end of July. Crews are currently demolishing the existing concrete monoliths and beginning bedrock excavation in the Sabin Lock’s footprint, preparing to fill the Davis Lock with excavated material and building a bridge to a hydroelectric power plant at the locks. 

The Corps also expects the contractor to work on the pump well substructure and new concrete monolith this year. 

Phase 1 was finished in 2022 and Phase 2 is nearing completion. A joint venture of Kokosing and Alberici won the Phase 2 contract, and representatives from the firms previously told ENR that being involved in simultaneous phases helped them find efficiencies and apply lessons learned in one phase to the next.