Construction Resumes On Illinois Carp Barrier Project

Work on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, a multilayered barrier designed to prevent the spread of invasive carp from the river system into Lake Michigan, has resumed more than a month after the Corps of Engineers issued a stop work order.

The Corps of Engineers ordered work on the $1.15 billion project to stop July 24, saying it was under “administrative review” but offering no further explanations. The project had become a point of contention between President Donald Trump’s administration and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The Michigan Advance, a nonprofit journalism initiative, reported after speaking to Whitmer’s office’s communications director that the stop work order was lifted after Whitmer spoke to Trump on September 2 and asked him to direct the Corps to lift the order, expressing concern that invasive carp had recently been found 80 miles from Lake Michigan in the Illinois River.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced August 14 that invasive carp sampling crews removed several hundred small silver carp from the Marseilles Pool of the Illinois River during routine monitoring. The fish ranged from 4 to 6 inches long, and the discovery marked the first time invasive carp of that size had been found upriver since the monitoring program began in 2010, according to an IDNR news release.

The IDNR said the presence of so many small fish may indicate that they spawned further upriver or in one of the tributaries feeding the Illinois River, meaning that a population of the fish may have established itself instead of only adults swimming upriver from time to time. Previous monitoring over the past 16 years from multiple agencies found established invasive carp populations in the lower 240 miles of the Illinois River, from the Peoria pool southward. North of the Peoria pool, the Starved Rock, Marseilles and Dresden Island pools were known to have adult invasive carp but not multiple life stages of young.

“Flood pulses and water temperatures this summer created conditions that have been conducive to carp spawning,” the IDNR said.

Michigan and Illinois are the non-federal cosponsors for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, located at what has been described as a critical pinch point to stop the carp’s advance. The project is located at Brandon Road Lock and Dam at Mile 286 on the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Ill. It includes a flushing lock, engineered channel, automated barge-clearing deterrent and sound, bubble and electric barriers.

The Michigan Advance said that Whitmer stressed the project as the strongest available defense against the threat of the carp spreading to the Great Lakes and endangering its $8 trillion economy.

Additionally, Pritzker demanded an end to the stop work order and an explanation for it in a letter September 2.

“Invasive carp continue to present a clear and immediate threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem and the many communities, businesses and economies that depend on it,” Pritzker wrote in his letter.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes, a nonprofit agency focused on protecting the environment of the Great Lakes, praised the resumption of the work.

“The stop work order on the Brandon Road project resulted in costly and unnecessary delay, putting us even closer to seeing invasive carp cause irreversible harm to the Great Lakes,” said Joel Brammeier, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “The overwhelming response of the entire region – including the bipartisan Congressional Great Lakes Task Force, the Great Lakes states, anglers, boaters, skilled construction workers, environmental organizations and many fellow Great Lakers – shows that we are and will continue to stand united in support of this critical project.”

Bammeier added, “Now that construction can resume, we will continue to make sure that it stays on track – at the construction site and in Washington, D.C. For the sake of the ecosystem and economy that our region depends on, we simply cannot afford any further disruption.”

The federal government is assuming 90 percent of the construction cost of the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, with Michigan and Illinois providing the remaining funding. Congress has appropriated $274 million for the first of three phases of construction. The fiscal year 2026 Civil Works work plan released April 3 included $28 million to initiate the Flushing Lock and Right Descending Bank Construction contract.

Three contracts have been awarded for the project’s construction.

A $15.5-million site preparation and bedrock removal contract was issued in November 2024 to Miami Marine Services, partnering with Michels Construction, Inc., of Milwaukee, Wis. The contract was completed in July 2025. La Crosse, Wis.-based J.F. Brennan Company Inc. won a $113.9-million firm-fixed-price contract April 11 to construct leading-edge deterrents for the project. Black & Veatch-Stantec BRIP JV of Overland Park, Kan., was awarded a contract April 23 for architect, engineering and analytical services. The Single Award Task Order Contract is valued at up to $85 million for the base and all options.

On April 9, former Assistant Secretary for the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle, who is now serving as acting secretary of the Army, announced he had directed management and execution of the project to be transferred from the Rock Island Engineer District to the Detroit District to ensure that the project progresses in close coordination with the state of Michigan.

Planning for the project began in 2019.