MASSENA -- The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation will host a public event to commemorate the Seaway’s 60th Anniversary on Tuesday, Sept. 24 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Lock and Visitors’ Center, 76 Barnhart Island Road.

The event will include dignitaries from the U.S. and Canada, including federal, state, and local representatives, as well as stakeholders from the commercial navigation industry, said a newsletter from the SLSDC.

In addition to commemorating the Seaway’s 60th anniversary, the event will provide an opportunity to acknowledge publicly the successful completion of several long-term infrastructure projects by the Department of Transportation and the SLSDC.

Those seeking to attend should RSVP to SLSDC@dot.gov by Friday, Sept. 13.

Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by Tuesday, Sept. 10 to Julie Kuenzler, EEO, Labor Relations & Employee Development Manager at Julie.Kuenzler@dot.gov or 315-764-3230.

No pets or alcohol are allowed on Seaway property.

Handicapped parking will be available.

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to navigation in 1959.

Construction of the 189-mile (306-kilometer) stretch of the Seaway between Montreal and Lake Ontario is recognized as one of the most challenging engineering feats in history, according to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System website at www.greatlakes-seaway.com.

Seven locks were built in the Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the Seaway, five Canadian and two U.S., in order to lift vessels to 246 feet (75 meters) above sea level, the website said.

The 28-mile (44 kilometer) Welland Canal is the fourth version of a waterway link between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, first built in 1829.

The present canal was competed in 1932, deepened in the 1950s as part of the Seaway project, and further straightened in 1973. Today its eight locks, all Canadian, lift ships 326 feet (100 meters) over the Niagara Escarpment, said the website.

A 2018 analysis by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation found that commercial navigation that transits the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario sustains 92,661 jobs (32,855 U.S. and 59,806 Canadian) and almost $13 billion in economic activity, according to the corporation’s quarterly newsletter.

If the amount of overall economic activity supported by Seaway navigation, $13 billion, is divided by the average length of the Seaway’s navigation season, 280 days, the average daily economic activity number supported by the Seaway would be calculated at $46.4 million per day, the analysis said.