The Panama Canal is a significant modern commercial project and it is undergoing expansion to increase its capacity to service modern large ships. It has become an interesting destination for many vacation cruises. So we provide a number of references for your review.
By August 15, 1914 the Panama Canal was officially opened by the passing of the SS Ancon. At the time, no single effort in American history had exacted such a price in dollars or in human life. The American expenditures from 1904 to 1914 totaled $352,000,000, far more than the cost of anything built by the United States Government up to that time. Together the French and American expenditures totaled $639,000,000. It took 34 years from the initial effort in 1880 to actually open the Canal in 1914. It is estimated that over 80,000 persons took part in the construction and that over 30,000 lives were lost in both French and American efforts.
The current expansion project is a major undertaking. The program consists in the construction of two new sets of locks - one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the Canal. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water reutilization basins.
The program also entails the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels in Gatun Lake and the deepening of Culebra Cut. In order to open a new 6.1 km-long access channel to connect the Pacific locks and the Culebra Cut, four dry excavation projects will be executed.
Wikipedia
Canal Museum
Expansion Project
Cruise Critic
