[3] The US Congress, through the Water Resources Development Act of 1988[4] first approved a $775 million budget for the project in 1988 (October 1987 Price Levels).

[11] The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the federal agency responsible for maintaining navigation on the USA's rivers, estimates the delay in completing the project results in a yearly loss of about $640 million to $800 million in lost benefits to the nation.

While calculating these benefits is complex because of the amount of variables considered, it essentially takes into account the reduced costs industry (or businesses using the river for commerce) would experience if the Olmsted Project was operational versus the current means of transit through the aging and often unreliable Locks and Dams 52 and 53.

These benefits further calculate the reduced costs in moving cargo through the river versus the next available cheapest alternative, usually by rail or by truck.

Multiple delays, especially in funding have created a 30-year endeavor that has been inflated from a $700+ million price tag to over $3 billion in early 2018.