A new contract of $6.9 million will update the 113-year-old Black Rock Lock. The cost includes full design and fabrication of polymer bulkheads that will act as guard gates at the canal lock.
Just over 80,000 tons of cargo traveled through the waterway last year.
Replacing the gates for the first time since 1912 is essential to making sure the route remains accessible, said Austin Nilsen, a structural engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The existing guard gates currently cannot be used for de-watering, as they require significant maintenance," he said. "Some sections show over 30% corrosion on a couple girders. And while they can be repaired ... It's almost as expensive to replace the steel as it would be to just replace the entire system.”
Using a polymer instead of steel should mean no replacements are needed for another hundred years, Nilsen said. The lock’s other gates also are being replaced as part of ongoing upgrades, but they will remain steel.
Fabricated materials for the upgrades are expected to be ready by November 2027, with work being completed by the spring, Nilsen added.
“By and large, commercial vessels do stop, stop operating on Lake Erie and most of the Great Lakes during the winter months due to storms and ice flows," he said. "So because of that, it does allow us a convenient time where we can do operations and maintenance and do all these replacements without having to disrupt any commerce.”
More than 800 recreational and close to 200 commercial vessels used Black Rock Lock last year.
