Posted on September 1, 2020
CHEBOYGAN — Ryba Marine Construction Company was recently awarded a large contract from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, to do some work on the MacArthur Lock in Sault Ste. Marie.
“The contract is for replacement of the mechanical drive system used to operate four filling and emptying tainter valves on the MacArthur Lock, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,” said Tom Bajko, engineer at Ryba Marine Construction.
The contract awarded to the Cheboygan company was for $7,276,650, to replace the equipment that has been in place since the World War II era. These tainter valves are used to raise and lower the water levels in the locks when a vessel is transitioning between the different waterways during shipping. There are two sets of these valves in the MacArthur Lock system, one upstream and one downstream. It is entirely gravity fed, so there are no pumps to regulate the water levels.
“The Corps takes pride in performing maintenance to keep its existing facilities operational for long durations, while simultaneously planning for replacement and renewal as required to ensure the locks remain a resilient link in the Great Lakes Navigation System,” said Kevin Sprague, area engineer, Soo Area Office, in a press release.
The MacArthur Lock is one of four in the Soo Locks system, originally opening for use in 1943. Two of these four are operational and a new lock is also currently being built, set to go into operation in 2030.
Each year, the Soo Locks complex helps with the transition of around 4,500 vessels from one body of water to another, carrying more than 80 million tons of cargo. These vessels carry all sorts of different supplies, including coal, iron ore, limestone and wheat, to other areas to be processed and consumed by customers.
“The MacArthur lock will continue to be an important asset for many decades, even as we continue to build our new lock, and after that when we complete much needed repairs to our Poe Lock,” said Joanne Gray, chief of construction and technical support, Soo Area Office. “The Corps will continue to invest in maintenance of major components of the Soo Locks.”
The work being done by Ryba Marine Construction is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2022.
“Ryba Marine Construction Company is very excited to work at the Soo Locks and support the USACE with their mission,” said Bajko. “We have performed many projects at the Soo Locks over the past 30 years and always appreciate the opportunity to work at this historical facility, updating critical infrastructure.”
Bajko said Ryba has performed many large scale projects such as this one, including replacing gate anchorages at both the Poe Lock and MacArthur Lock at the Soo Locks facility. The major gearing and material fabrication will take place over the winter and through next summer. Then, onsite installation of the materials will be done during the winter lock closure between next December and April of 2022.
Ryba Marine Construction Company is an employee-owned company that has been in the Cheboygan area for over 35 years. The company often does large projects such as this one for the Army Corps of Engineers.
More information about the company can be found on its website, www.rybamarine.com/.
Source: cheboygannews
