The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a Kokosing-Alberici-Traylor team a $222.7 million contract for construction work at the Soo Lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, according to a Sept. 12 news release from the agency’s Detroit District. The Chamber Lock Operational Option 3 award for the New Lock at the Soo is part of the $3.22 billion effort to modernize the key shipping route.
The Soo Locks on the St. Marys River, which connect Lake Superior and Lake Huron, consist of two canals and four locks, two of which are no longer in use. The locks are essential to U.S. manufacturing and national security: Per USACE, 88% of domestically produced high-strength steel, used to manufacture products like cars and appliances, is made with iron ore that can only move through one lock — the Poe Lock — because typical modern shipping vessels cannot fit through the MacArthur Lock.
The New Lock project entails building another lock the size of Poe in the footprint of the decommissioned Davis and Sabin locks site. This will allow vessels to traverse the 21-foot elevation change at the St. Marys Falls Canal and accelerate shipping traffic.
“Option 3 includes construction of the lock floor, installation of the mechanical and electrical systems, completion of the filling and emptying system, placing soil in between the New Lock and old Davis Lock, and commissioning of the lock chamber,” said Darin White, technical lead for the New Lock at the Soo.
The entire project remains on track for completion in 2030, according to the release.
Construction advancing
The team — Westerville, Ohio-based Kokosing Industrial, St. Louis, Missouri-headquartered Alberici Constructors and Evansville, Indiana-based Traylor Bros. — is also building the third phase of the project. That work began in November 2022 with a base contract of $1.068 billion.
It’s the largest and most complicated phase according to USACE, and includes demolishing the existing Sabin Lock; excavating bedrock; constructing the new lock; fabricating and installing miter gates; rehabilitating downstream approach walls; installing mechanical, electrical and mooring systems; and building a new pump well.
As of the end of July, the contractor team had completed over $400 million worth of work, per the release.
“The contractor is demolishing existing concrete monoliths and beginning bedrock excavation in the footprint of the existing Sabin Lock,” said New Lock at the Soo Senior Project Manager Mollie Mahoney in the release. “In the Davis Lock they are beginning excavating for the new pump well and preparing to fill the Davis Lock with excavated material. The contractor is also constructing a new bridge to the new power plant and a new utility access structure.”
Additional activities planned for the rest of 2024 include constructing a pump well substructure and a new concrete monolith.
Kokosing and Alberici are also the contractors for the second phase of the project, which entails rehabilitating the upstream approach walls to allow modern vessels to tie up and wait in line to pass through the new lock. That work is nearly complete, per the release.
In Phase 1, which wrapped in August 2022, Nevada-based Trade West’s crews deepened the upstream approach to the New Lock so modern vessels can move through it. USACE said it finished the first portion of the project under budget and ahead of schedule.
Work still to be awarded
Although most contracts have been doled out, several remain to be awarded over the next three years, according to the release.
To date, the agency has awarded various options worth a combined $503.7 million: upstream wide wall monoliths, chamber wall monoliths, new power plant bridge ramp, new pump well completion and alligator’s mouth mooring area.
USACE aims to award three contracts in the next year, totaling $95.3 million. They are:
- Option 4, downstream work.
- Option 5, hands-free mooring.
- Option 6, downstream ship arrestors.
