Soo Locks deal for L.B. Foster Company

L.B. Foster Company has been awarded a $7 million subcontract to supply infrastructure materials for the rehabilitation of existing upstream approach walls for a new lock at the USACE Soo Locks Complex in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

The Company is supplying approximately 5,750 tons of steel piling to construction firm Kokosing Alberici LLC, a joint venture between two major infrastructure companies: Kokosing Industrial of Westerville, Ohio and Alberici Constructors of St. Louis, Missouri.

The upstream approach walls will be constructed using a combination of 34 ft. diameter cellular cofferdams using PS 31 and PS 27.5 steel flat sheets, and approach walls using PZC™ 13, 26, and 28 steel sheet piling.

The approach walls allow ships to tie up and wait their turn to pass through the new lock. L.B. Foster and major supply partner, Gerdau managed the delivery of the piling beginning in spring 2021 with installation estimated to be completed in 2023. 

Originally built in 1855, the Soo Locks are a set of parallel locks operated and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, that enable ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.

Approximately 80 million tons of commercial commodities pass through the Soo Locks annually.