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The USA The Army Corps of Engineers received a Kokosing-Alberici-Traylor equips a $222.7 million contract for construction work at 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 Soo lock is part of the $3.22 billion effort to modernize the key shipping route.
The Soo Locks on the St. Marys, which connect Lake Superior and Lake Huron, consist of two canals and four locks, two of which are no longer in use. Locks are essential to US manufacturing and national security: According to the USACE, 88% of domestically produced high-strength steel, used to make products such as cars and appliances, is made from iron ore which can only be moved through a lock: Poe’s lock. because typical modern shipping vessels cannot pass through the MacArthur Lock.
The New Lock project involves the construction of another Poe-sized lock on the footprint of the Davis and Sabin Locks site. This will allow ships to traverse the 21-foot elevation change in the St. Marys Falls and speed up marine traffic.
“Option 3 includes construction of the lock floor, installation of the mechanical and electrical systems, completion of the fill and drain system, placement of soil between the new lock and the old lock Davis and getting the locker room up and running,” Darin White said. technical manager of the New Lock in the Soo.
According to the release, the entire project remains on track for completion in 2030.
Construction is progressing
The team – Westerville, OhioThe builders Alberici Constructors, based in Kokosing Industrial, St. Louis, Mo., and Traylor Bros., based in Evansville, Ind., are also building the third phase of the project. This work began in November 2022 with a base contract of $1.068 billion.
It is the largest and most complicated phase according to USACE, and includes the demolition of the existing Sabin Lock; bedrock excavation; the construction of the new lock; manufacture and installation of mitred doors; rehabilitate the downstream approach walls; installation of mechanical, electrical and mooring systems; and build a new pump well.
By the end of July, the contractor team had completed more than $400 million of work, according to the release.
“The contractor is demolishing the existing concrete monoliths and beginning bedrock excavation in the footprint of the existing Sabin Lock,” New Lock told Soo Senior Project Manager Mollie Mahoney in the statement. “At Davis Lock they are starting to excavate for the new pump well and are preparing to fill Davis Lock with excavated material. The contractor is also building a new bridge to the new power plant and a new service access structure public”.
Additional activities planned for the remainder of 2024 include the construction of a pump pit substructure and a new concrete monolith.
Kokosing and Alberici are also the contractors for the second phase of the project, which involves the rehabilitation of the upstream approach walls to allow modern ships to moor and queue to pass through the new lock. This work is almost complete, according to the statement.
In Phase 1, which ended in August 2022, Nevada-based Trade West crews deepened the approach upstream of the New Lock so that modern ships can move through it. USACE said it finished the first part of the project under budget and ahead of schedule.
Work still to award
Although most contracts have been awarded, several remain to be awarded over the next three years, according to the statement.
To date, the agency has awarded several options with a combined value of $503.7 million: upstream widewall monoliths, chamber wall monoliths, new power plant bridge ramp, completion of the new pump well and alligator mouth mooring area.
USACE aims to award three contracts next year, totaling $95.3 million. They are:
- Option 4, downstream work.
- Option 5, hands-free mooring.
- Option 6, downstream vessel holders.
