Infrastructure
Soo Lock Expansion Cost Revised Down to $2.62B
Detroit District confirms revised fully funded estimate includes all construction and contingency, with project still on track for 2030 completion
Phase 3 advances on the New Lock at the Soo in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., adding a second Poe-size chamber for 1,000-ft freighters. Phases 1 and 2 are complete; Kokosing-Alberici-Traylor JV leads Phase 3 toward a summer 2030 finish, per USACE.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a fully funded cost for the New Lock at the Soo of $2.619 billion, according to Detroit District spokesperson Carrie Fox. The cost reduction amounts to 13% less than the $3.2 billion figure previously authorized by Congress. The estimate was certified on July 9 and publicly announced during a stakeholder webinar on Sept. 11.
Fox said the certified figure includes all construction contracts—completed, ongoing and future—as well as management reserve, contingency, and Corps labor costs for planning, project management, design, and supervision and administration. It does not cover operations or maintenance after the lock is placed in service.
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Rendering, above, depicts how the Soo Locks will look once the New Lock at the Soo is complete in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Image: USACE.
No features required for a fully functional 1,200-ft chamber have been de-scoped, she added. “The $2.619B fully funded project cost includes all features required for a fully functional 1,200-foot-long navigation lock,” Fox told ENR by email.
With efficient funding through fiscal years 2026 to 2030, the project remains on track for summer 2030 completion. The project is considered essential to national supply chains; a 2015 Dept. of Homeland Security study warned a six-month Poe Lock outage could idle 11 million U.S. jobs.
The New Lock at the Soo will add a second Poe-size chamber—1,200 ft by 110 ft by 32 ft—in the footprint of the Sabin Lock, to handle the 1,000-ft freighters that move nearly all Great Lakes iron ore. USACE has said more than 88% of commodities transiting the locks system are limited to the Poe, underscoring the need for redundancy.
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$95.3M Contract for Soo Lock Final Phase Goes to Kokosing Alberici Traylor
The project was authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 at about $3.219 billion. Fox emphasized that certified cost estimates are an internal tool providing a “snapshot in time” of anticipated cost through completion and “do not affect or change the authorized cost of the project from WRDA 22.”
Progress So Far
Phase 1 upstream channel deepening finished in 2022, and Phase 2 upstream approach walls reached substantial completion in September 2024.
In June 2025, the Corps awarded Kokosing-Alberici-Traylor LLC $95.3 million in remaining Phase 3 options covering downstream work, hands-free mooring and downstream ship arrestors. Those awards followed the $1.068-billion base Phase 3 contract let in 2022.
Phase 3 also includes demolition of the Sabin Lock, infilling of the Davis Lock, construction of a new pump well, rerouting of power and a bridge to the hydropower plant. The Corps says the overall program remains on track for summer 2030 completion with steady appropriations.
Also this month, ENR Midwest named “Upstream Approach Walls at the Soo Locks Complex, Phase 2” one of three finalists for its 2025 Project of the Year, which will take place Nov. 18 at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel. Click here for more information about the event.
Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).
Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction and community issues, including finance, law and real estate. He has reported for Adweek and the San Diego Daily Transcript and led a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif. He served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and as managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage. At Engineering News-Record, Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure and megaprojects, regulatory developments and business trends across the U.S. and global construction sectors.
email: gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591
