GeoGarage blog: Panama canal : transits through expanded Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Expansion is the largest project at the Canal since its original construction.

The project will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity.

Panoramic view of the canal of Panama, From the relief constructed by Ch. Muret - 1881

The original French project was entirely at sea-level, without locks.
Locks were only decided in 1906, a few years after the US took over the thing, and since the map is stamped from 1907, it's possible that it's based on the older design.

July 1910

Panama Canal Map and Approaches, 1923

The Panama Canal, 1923

The Program consists of several components/projects:

New Locks (Third Set of Locks), which is the construction of two lock complexes, which will create a third lane of traffic.
Pacific Access Channel, also known as PAC4, which is the excavation of a 6.1 km-long access channel for the new Pacific locks to bypass Miraflores Lake.
Dredging of the navigational channels along the waterway.
Improvements to water supply by raising Gatun Lake maximum operational level by 45 cm to improve the Canal’s water supply and draft.

The largest infrastructure project since the waterway’s original construction, the Panama Canal Expansion Program will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity.

The new locks will have three chambers, water-saving basins, lateral filling and emptying system & rolling gates.
Learn more about this project at expansion.pancanal.com

The new locks will have three chambers, water-saving basins, lateral filling and emptying system & rolling gates.