The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers included a significant chunk of funding for a massive effort to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes in its civil works plan released Wednesday.

       The federal agency will put about $226 million toward the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project as part of funding received from the bipartisan infrastructure plan. The Brandon Road funding will cover the preconstruction engineering and design phase of the project, as well as initial construction at the site near Joliet.

       Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, called the investment “a significant down payment” on Great Lakes protection.

       The Brandon Road Lock and Dam is seen on Feb. 1, 2021, in Joliet, Illinois. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

       “This is the clearest, strongest sign that this project will move forward,” Smith said.

       Plans for the $858 million project include a technology gauntlet — an electric barrier, underwater sound, an air bubble curtain and flushing lock — to stop carp from swimming to Lake Michigan. The prolific fish, able to reproduce rapidly and consume loads of plankton, threaten to transform ecosystems and harm the region’s $7 billion fishing industry.

       Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said the development was “historic.”

       Illinois, the project’s nonfederal sponsor, signed an agreement with the Army Corps in December 2020 to complete the preconstruction phase, estimated at $29 million and expected to take three to four years. Illinois and Michigan committed to providing the nonfederal share of about $10 million with the rest coming from federal funds.

       “This knocks that out of the park,” Flanagan said.

       The funding will make the transition from design to construction more seamless, Flanagan said. “And that will make things happen faster, which makes it more likely we’ll get this project built before carp get to the Great Lakes.”

       The nonfederal cost share of the overall project is 20%. There’s contingency built into the total price, which could drop, but advocates are pushing for full federal funding, which they argue is warranted for a threat that extends across states.

       In December, Great Lakes officials signed on to a letter asking Congress to provide funding for the rest of the project, saying “the balance of project cost for design, construction, operation and maintenance is beyond the capacity of the Great Lakes States to match.”

       Controlling and eradicating invasive species in the Great Lakes — where vampiric sea lamprey once sucked the life out of fisheries and today zebra and quagga mussels reign in the hundreds of trillions — is an ongoing challenge.

       Reaching this phase of the Brandon Road project followed years of planning and a range of ideas including an $18 billion separation of Lake Michigan from the river.

       Once this phase is complete, the Army Corps has said construction could be completed in six to eight years, meaning a best case finish in 2030.

       Army Corps funds $226 million of Brandon Road project to keep invasive carp out of Lake Michigan

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