Quote:
Originally Posted by electricron
I'm not so sure how much the Soo Locks directly affect Detroit, but it will slightly. The US Corps of Engineers have built long and short locks just about everywhere on navigable rivers; Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, and Illinois Rivers. So that is not an unique situation at the Soo Locks. Looking elsewhere on the St. Laurence Seaway, there are single locks at dozens of locales.
The doors to these locks look very heavy, but all are hollow and buoyant, just like any small boat it does not take much effort to move them. It does not take more than a few hours to replace an electrical motor, or replace the linkage arm in case of electrical or mechanical failure. And if the door is damaged beyond repair, there will probably be more drastic issues to be worrying about.
The Soo Locks are closed several months of the years anyways due to thick ice. It is not going to cost shippers much to wait for any repairs to the existing large lock. Having a second large lock is nice, but certainly not more economic damaging as locks failures elsewhere. There is a difference between nice to have, want to have, and need to have.
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I guess I'm not sure what your point(s) is / are. It sounds like you are trying to downplay the importance and need for this long-overdue infrastructure project. But maybe I'm misunderstanding, and if so, my mistake.
The Soo Locks are incredibly unique - they are the busiest lock system in the world, by cargo tonnage, according to the
State. In a typical year, 7,000 - 10,000 ships pass through them. Virtually 100% of the nation's domestic iron ore that is mined in the US - namely, northern Minnesota, must travel through these locks.
Granted, domestic industrial manufacturing is not what it was 50 years ago, but make no mistake, these locks directly impact hundreds, if not thousands, of companies - yes, in Detroit, also in Cleveland, in Buffalo, in all of the lakeshore industry south of Chicago, etc.
The concern isn't about costs to shippers waiting to access the canal. It is about what happens in the eventuality that a lock system over 100 years old fails. As dependent as the domestic steel industry (and all of its related manufacturing operations) is on water-based transport, this definitely seems like a need to have, not a want to have, situation...
Separately, here are a few more photo updates of the temporary M-30 bridge construction (over the Tobacco River in Gladwin County) that MDOT posted yesterday -
Source:
Instagram | @mdotpicoftheday