SAULT ST. MARIE -- A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday at the Soo Locks in Sault St. Marie to unveil a new multi-million dollar lock replacement project.

A large crowd joined various American and Canadian dignities for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Representatives from Michigan included Congressman Bart Stupak and Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin.

"We needed an additional lock, we have one long lock here that can handle the big ships but we don't have the back up lock we need in terms of both reliability and security," said Sen. Levin, D-Michigan.

With $17M from the federal government a new project is now underway at the Soo Locks. The plan is to replace a pair of World War Two era locks with one that is a little bigger. Like the Poe lock, it'll be able to handle the fleet of growing vessels that sail on the Great Lakes, many measuring a thousand feet long.

"About 70 percent of the cargo that goes through here goes through the Poe and most of the shipping is on the large vessels, it's important to keep them going," said John Niemic, project manager.

"This is extremely significant on a number of fronts," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan. "This is about keeping the economy going on the great lake states, being able to move raw materials and products and be able to keep commerce going is incredibly important and we need a new lock to do that."

Work will first begin in a few weeks with construction on two coffer dams that will lay the foundation for the new lock. In the months to come work will also follow to deepen the incoming and outgoing channels.

This, however, is only the first part of what is expected to be a ten year project. There will be plenty of work going on behind-the-scenes to secure the rest of the funding for the project that is expected to cost $500M.

"This is the first down payment, what we need to do is have the army corps say ok how much this year, how much next year and spacing it out that way but we have support from the administration and support from key members of congress and we're going to get this lock built," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-1st Congressional District.

Meanwhile, those involved say the project not only means millions of dollars of investment in northern Michigan, but hundreds of jobs as well. They add this project is vital to remain competitive with maritime commerce.