Fish Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS
There’s some good news for the Great Lakes! The Biden administration has awarded $742 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for two of the Great Lakes most critical water infrastructure priorities: The Soo Locks and the Brandon Road Lock and Dam projects. Of the total awarded, $516.2 million will go to the Soo Locks project to fund the completion of a new replacement lock and the completion of major rehabilitation at the existing lock and dam, which will improve shipping times of industrial and agricultural products through the Great Lakes.
The Brandon Road Lock project in Illinois will receive $225.8 million, which will be used to fund the construction and deployment of state-of-the-art technologies and innovative programs that interrupt the movement of invasive Asian carp. This will protect the Great Lakes’ $7 billion fishing and $16 billion recreational boating industries.
