Michigan’s congressional delegation will visit the Soo locks tomorrow after kicking off an effort to win money to upgrade them.
It was a bipartisan group that gathered on Mackinac Island to announce their effort to get roughly a billion dollars for the project.
Senator Debbie Stabenow says expanding and upgrading the locks should be a top national infrastructure priority.
“There’s been no comprehensive improvement in the locks in over 50 years, and we are concerned we are on borrowed time.”
Stabenow says a breakdown of the locks would be a huge security risk and an economic catastrophe.
About 80 (m) million tons of freight and raw materials travel through the locks every year, but most of the locks can no longer handle modern, large ships.