(WXYZ) — The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie are preparing to open at midnight on Saturday for the 2023 shipping season.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, said the Soo Project Office will open the Poe Lock at 12:01 a.m. on March 25.
For those that don't know, the operating season is fixed by federal regulation and driven in party by how feasible it is for some ships to operate in typical Great Lakes ice conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also uses the two-month closure to inspect the locks and do maintenance on them.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, posted on Facebook that the 1,004-foot-long Edwin H. Gott will kick off the 2023 shipping season. Last year, its sister ship, the Edgar B. Speer, was the first through.
The Poe Lock, the largest in the lock system, closed on Jan. 16 for critical repairs and maintenance. The Poe Lock is the only one that can be used by the 1,000-foot ships on the Great Lakes.
Those repairs include gate 1 anchorage component repairs like replacing concrete, Gate 1 lifting lugs and turning feet, underfloor drain system inspection, Gate 1 structural inspection for future replacement, Gate 3 inspection for structural repairs, gate jacking pedestal inspections, valve repairs, Gate 3 seal repairs and culvert intake grate repairs.
The gates open and close allowing ships to enter and leave the lock and prevent water from getting in or out when boats are lifted or lowered.
“Crews also performed a wide range of other maintenance tasks including fender timber replacements, electrical and mechanical systems inspections, and preventative maintenance on both the Poe and MacArthur Locks and floating plant maintenance,” Maintenance Branch Chief Nick Pettit said.
According to the corps, contractors also worked on the Poe Lock arrestor project.
“This winter a portion of maintenance projects on Gate 1 required the Poe Lock to remain full while others required the lock to be dewatered,” Maintenance Branch Chief Nick Pettit said. “Sequencing Poe Lock maintenance/repairs allowed our team to maximize the non-navigation season.”
The other lock, the MacArthur Lock, is scheduled to open April 24.
Visitors can view the Soo Locks with the viewing platform and park open from 11 p.m. on March 24 to 1 a.m. on March 25 and then the visitor center hosting an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 25. The park is open every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Soo Locks are also in the process of building a new massive lock and modernizing its other locks. Last year, i was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would get $479 million from President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill for the work.
Currently, the Soo Locks have two active lock chambers – the MacArthur Lock, and the Poe Lock, which is the only one large enough for the massive 1,000-foot freighters to navigate the Great Lakes and go from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan.
A new lock is being built on the site of two inactive locks that will be the same size as the Poe Lock – 1,200 feet long and 110 feet wide.
“The Soo Locks are nationally critical infrastructure, and their reliability is essential to U.S. manufacturing and National Security,” Detroit District Deputy District Engineer Kevin McDaniels said in a statement. “A failure of the Poe Lock would have significant impacts to the U.S. economy, especially the steel industry.”
