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The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS) Study was initiated pursuant to a Memorandum of Cooperation of May 2003 between Transport Canada and the U.S. Department of Transportation, which facilitated a binational study partnership.
Seven Canadian and United States departments and agencies were involved in the study:
- Transport Canada
- U.S. Department of Transportation
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (Canada)
- Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (United States)
- Environment Canada
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The objectives of the study were to:
- Evaluate the condition and reliability of the GLSLS system, including the long-term costs of maintaining the existing lock system infrastructure.
- Assess the engineering, economic and environmental factors associated with the current and future needs of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system and the transportation infrastructure on which it depends.
- Identify factors and trends affecting the domestic and international marine transportation industries serving the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway system, including evolving modal linkages and transportation technologies.
All of the seven departments and agencies involved in the study participated in a steering committee responsible for the study’s overall strategic direction. Responsibility for overseeing the study tasks and analysis was vested in a management committee consisting of one representative from Transport Canada and one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The study was carried out by subject-matter experts and representatives drawn from the seven partners and organized into three working groups: engineering, economic and environment.
- The Engineering Working Group was tasked with examining the current condition of the GLSLS system’s physical infrastructure. It was directed to identify potential problem areas, estimate costs associated with keep the system functional, and articulate an optimal strategy for ensuring its reliable ongoing operation.
- The mandate of the Economic Working Group was to consider the current economic role of the GLSLS and its likely future evolution. It was to examine the nature and directions of historical and present-day traffic flows and project the kind of traffic that might be expected over the coming years. This was intended to assess the future role of the GLSLS as a key factor in considering the infrastructure that will be needed to support it.
- The Environment Working Group was directed to review the current state of the environment in the Great Lakes basin and St. Lawrence River. It was to identify the most valued components of this ecosystem and determine how they had been affected by commercial navigation. Ultimately the group was to suggest ways of ensuring that the future environmental impact of commercial navigation could be minimized.
As a major binational undertaking, the study was mandated to conduct an extensive review of the existing infrastructure of the GLSLS in its current configuration. Despite its breadth and depth, there are issues that the study deliberately did not address. The focus was restricted to commercial navigation and excluded the navigational issues relating to recreation or tourism. In addition, the study did not consider any changes to the existing configuration of the GLSLS system such as larger locks, deeper channels, double lock systems or turning basins, nor did it review issues such as extending the navigational season.
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