Panama Canal Expansion Is 90% Complete
The Panama Canal expansion project is 90% complete with the start of filling new locks on the Atlantic Ocean side of the waterway.
The step was announced by the Panama Canal Authority in a statement outlining the filling of the lower chamber of Atlantic locks. The move “signals the start of a deliberate and methodical phase of operational tests and quality control," the statement said.
The expanded waterway, with an additional lane and facilities that will double capacity, is expected to open in the spring. The $5.25 billion project was begun more than seven years ago and delayed at times by payment disputes with contractors.
“This event highlights the magnitude of what we have been working on for the past seven years,” canal Administrator Jorge Quijano said. “Filling the locks with water is the culmination of arduous years of labor and the realization that we are within arm’s reach of the completion of one of the most impressive infrastructure projects of our time.”
Read more at: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=38561
= new reply since forum marked as read
How the Panama Canal Works
by Sarah Dowdey
[font size=1]
A cargo ship headed toward the Pacific winds its way across Gatún Lake and
the Panamanian peninsula.
George F. Mobley/National Geographic/Getty Images
[/font]
When the conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa summited a peak in the region Dariên, his eyes beheld a tantalizing sight. Behind him, the Atlantic Ocean that he had crossed from Spain; before him, the Pacific -- the two bodies of water separated by an impossibly narrow isthmus. However, Balboa was simply the first in a long line of outsiders to underestimate the difficulty of connecting the two oceans. It took more than 400 years from his 1513 discovery to create the canal that revolutionized world trade.
Today, more than 943,042 vessels have passed through the Panama Canal since its opening [source: Panama Canal Authority]. It acts as benchmark to the world's economic health -- bustling with freighters carrying grain, petroleum and coal during high times and slowing down when global markets lag. The canal shortened the trip between the East and West coasts of the United States by 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km), allowing ships to avoid the dangerous, expensive trip around South America's Cape Horn [source: Britannica].
The canal also occupies a strange place in geopolitics. Until 1979, it was under the exclusive control of the United States. The U.S.-run Canal Zone slashed through the Republic of Panama just as the canal cut through the American continents. It also served as a symbol of injustice for many Panamanians. But after a 20-year period of joint agency between the U.S. and the Republic of Panama, complete control passed to Panama. Since then, the Panama Canal Authority (an agency responsible to the Panamanian government) has managed the canal and maintained the waterway's safety record and efficiency.
That's a fairly impressive feat considering the volume of the canal's traffic -- and the age of the canal itself. Ships are raised and lowered over the continental divide by a series of locks, which are built with two chambers to accommodate two-way traffic. It's a trade artery, operating almost beyond capacity, and it was built in challenging terrain.
So what did it take to rend two continents? And why did an estimated 22,000 people die in a failed attempt to make it happen? We'll find out.
More:
http://geography.howstuffworks.com/central-america/panama-canal.htm
