Dozens of spectators wait for the Presque Isle freighter to enter the Poe Lock before they can walk across the top of the lock gate to the center strip of land at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie Tuesday, June 30, to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a new lock. The new Soo Lock is expected to cost $580 million and will take 10 years to construct. Work on building a new commercial lock in the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie will soon begin, now that ground has been broken for the $580 million project. The new lock will be the first lock built at the site since 1968.

Construction of the new lock has been in the works since 1986, when Congress agreed that a second Poe-sized lock was necessary to keep shipping steady on the Great Lakes, important in national and international shipping. The Poe Lock is the only lock able to handle the largest 1,000-foot commercial vessels on the lakes. It handles about 70% of the ships traversing the rapids. About 60 million tons of materials, like coal, iron ore, and stone, pass through the Poe Lock each year. The locks are the busiest in the world, and contain the largest lock in the Western Hemisphere. The locks allow ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.

An artist's rendition of what the Soo Locks will look like when construction on the new lock is completed. The new lock (2) will replace the inoperable Sabin and Davis Locks. The Poe Lock (3), is currently the only lock able to handle almost three-fourths of the commercial freighters on the Great Lakes. The MacArthur Lock (4) is at the far right. To the left of the new lock is the channel leading to a hydroelectric power plant (1) that powers lock operations. The International Bridge in the foreground connects Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, with Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. (Image courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) "If something happens to the Poe [Lock], this will allow the ships to still go through the system," said Lynn Duerod, public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District. "We're worried about the viability of the Poe, which will be 50 years old when the new lock is completed. We want to make sure the infrastructure is there for the ships that go through" the locks.

Construction on the new lock is expected to take about 10 years to complete.

More than 350 people attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the new lock Tuesday, June 30, on the center strip of land between the Poe and Davis Locks. Those who attended were allowed to walk across the tops of the MacArthur and Poe Lock gates to the large center strip between the locks; walking across the lock gates is typically off limits to civilians.

Spectators watched as 20 shovels were thrust into the ground by lawmakers and local officials to signify the first dirt turned on the new lock project.

The lock, which is yet to be named, will be 1,200 feet long, 110 feet wide, and 32 feet deep, the same as the Poe Lock, and will replace the 95-year-old Davis and 90-year-old Sabin Locks, which are both inoperable. The north wall of the Sabin Lock will be reconstructed as the north wall of the new lock, and the southern wall will be scaled back 30 feet to widen it to "Poe size." The Davis Lock will be filled in to extend the land mass between the Poe and the new lock, according to Al Klein, area engineer at the Corps of Engineers' Sault Ste. Marie office.

Construction on the new lock will begin this summer when Canton, Ohio-based T.A.B. Construction Company constructs coffer dams to block water flow into the Sabin Lock so workers will have a dry environment to construct the new lock. The Ohio company was awarded a $1.9 million contract to construct the dams around the lock closest to the Canadian border early last month. It expected to take about a year to construct the dams.

About 15,000 jobs are expected to be created throughout the construction of the lock.

U.S. Representative Bart Stupak, who has been a major advocate for the new lock since he took office in Michigan's first congressional district in 1992, expressed his joy and relief that the project is finally getting underway after more than two decades of studies and analysis.

"In 2007, I inserted language into the Water Resource Development Act, which basically said, 'The Great Lakes economy cannot wait any longer, the time has come for studies to be over, and that we shall build a new Soo Lock. It shall be 1,200 feet long, it shall be 110 feet wide, and it shall be paid for 100% by the federal government,'" he said. "Many people doubted today would ever come. Without the work of many members of the Great Lakes delegation and our two senators, Senator [Carl] Levin and Senator [Debbie] Stabenow, this day would not be possible."

Both senators were in attendance.

Senator Stabenow spoke to the crowd about the importance of the Soo Locks since the creation of the first American lock in 1853. She said the locks are an important part of the state's marine infrastructure and that the new lock will only expand the number of ships on the Great Lakes.

"In Michigan, we build things and we grow things, and we do a dog-gone good job of it, but we couldn't do it without the locks. The ships that use these locks will keep Michigan going long into the future," she said. "As we shift to a 21st century manufacturing strategy, we need a 21st century infrastructure to be able to get that done. This lock will help us... keep Michigan and the Great Lakes the premiere place where we build things and grow things for America and for the world."

Other speakers at the ceremony included U.S. Senator Carl Levin, Lieutenant Colonel James Davis, commander of the Corps of Engineers Detroit District; Brigadier General John Peabody, commander and division engineer of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division of the Corps of Engineers; Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation; Terrence Salt, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army Civil Works; Major General Meredith W. B. "Bo" Temple, deputy commanding general of Civil and Emergency Operations for the Corps of Engineers; Anthony Bosbous, mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; John Rowswell, mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Darwin "Joe" McCoy, chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians; James Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers' Association, and David Knight, special project manager at the Great Lakes Commission. Mr. Steudle spoke on behalf of Governor Jennifer Granholm, who did not attend.