The Soo Locks are officially closed to shipping traffic as of 10 a.m. today, Monday.
They were originally scheduled to close at 11:59 p.m. Sunday night, but the Defiance Tug/Ashtabula Barge vessel left Duluth, Minnesota, late.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates and maintains the locks, does make exceptions such as this, to keep the locks open a little longer to make sure late-running vessels lock through.
The tug/barge Ashtabula/Defiance closed out the 2022-2023 navigation season carrying the season's final load which was headed for Burns Harbor, Indiana. The load was 24,680 long tons of taconite.
Some 150 employees will now focus on the needed repairs and updates to the larger Poe Lock and the smaller MacArthur Lock.
"Crews will be in today to set the bridge across the Poe Lock. That will be the first step," Jeff Harrington, Sault Project Office Operations Branch Chief said.
"And with that in place, and some of the other preparations that are already being made, they are removing deck plates and removing snow and ice."
Harrington added that the construction of the new Super Lock will continue as planned through the winter months.
