CHICAGO, IL (September 3, 2026) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced construction would resume on the critical Brandon Road Interbasin Project (BRIP) after abruptly halting work earlier this summer without explanation or warning. The project includes a suite of deterrents to stop damaging carp from entering the Great Lakes via a chokepoint on the Illinois River.
“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, President and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “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.”
“Now that construction can resume, we will continue to make sure that it stays on track – at the construction site and in Washington, DC,” said Brammeier. “For the sake of the ecosystem and economy that our region depends on, we simply cannot afford any further disruption.”
Construction on the Brandon Road project began in 2025, providing jobs for union workers, but in late July the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a stop work order on the project. No warning and no reasons were given why the critical barrier construction was halted. The President previously directed federal agencies to implement the project with maximum speed and efficiency.
The urgency of the project was amplified when the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced that juvenile invasive carp were discovered a mere 80 miles from Lake Michigan, further upriver than they have ever been found through routine monitoring. This finding underscores the vital importance of completing the Brandon Road Interbasin Project and strengthening the Great Lakes’ defenses against invasive carp.
This is the farthest north that juvenile invasive carp have been discovered since monitoring began in 2010, according to IDNR, and the location indicates that a spawning event may have occurred even closer to Lake Michigan. Spawning activity is a troubling sign of an establishing population and shows a higher risk of invasion than the presence of adult fish.
The carp are closing in on the Great Lakes by advancing up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, where they have already caused significant ecological and economic damage. The Brandon Road project is the best chance to stop them before they reach the Great Lakes and threaten the region’s $5.1 billion fishing and $16 billion recreational boating industries. The Brandon Road project must continue, without further interruptions, costs, and on schedule. We look forward to working with our growing community of partners to keep our Great Lakes healthy and vibrant for generations to come.
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Contact: Don Carr, Media Director, Alliance for the Great Lakes dcarr@greatlakes.org