WASHINGTON – After decades of delaying work on a proposed new navigation lock on the Great Lakes in northern Michigan, the Army Corps of Engineers appears ready to start funding it in earnest.

The Corps released a budget proposal Tuesday for the fiscal year beginning in October that includes $75.3 million to build a new lock at Sault Ste. Marie. The project could employ as many as 15,000 people.

"This is incredible news for Michigan," said U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, who, along with other members of the state's delegation, met with President Donald Trump last April to push for funding. "This ... will create jobs and benefit our entire state.”

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., agreed, calling the proposed funding "a good first step." But he added: "There’s a lot of work ahead to ensure this project is finished."

Last year, Congress authorized spending $922 million on a new navigation lock large enough to handle the biggest vessels moving raw materials, especially iron ore, through the choke point between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.

The only lock large enough to do so now, the Poe Lock, is 51 years old and for decades there have been concerns that if it went out of operation for any reason for an extended period of time, material transport on the Great Lakes could come to a standstill.

Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers released a new study indicating its determination that the project was worth its cost and included $32 million in its current year work plan to begin design and construction.

The Corps' proposed budget has been submitted to Congress, which will consider it and possibly change it, so the $75.2 million is not assured. Meanwhile, completing the project will require years of securing funding, if not a decade or more.

Read more:

New Soo Lock that could employ thousands in Michigan pushes forward

Proposal for new $922M Soo Lock in Trump's hands now

Contact Todd Spangler:tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.