The Panama Canal Engineering Wonder of 20th Century

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers“The canal remains a testament to the combined

skills of structural, geotechnical, hydraulic and sanitary engineers.”

The Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World

• Channel Tunnel-English Channel• CN Tower- Toronto, Canada• Empire State Building- NYC, USA• Golden Gate Bridge- San Francisco, USA• Itaipu Dam- Brazil-Paraguay border• Netherlands North Sea Protection Works• Panama Canal- Panama

Map of Panama

Ended on November 6th 1903

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

•Spanish Explorer

•Governor

•Conquistador

Crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513

Isthmus of Panama

• Narrow Strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean

• Links North and South America• Formed over 3 million years ago • Location is of great strategic value

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

(Charles I of Spain)

•In 1534 order the Panama

Governor

• first to believe and attempted

Ulysses S. Grant

•Elected in 1869

•In 1869 begins surveys in Mexico ,

Panama and Nicaragua

French Canal Company

•Began working on the Canal in

1880

•Terrain

•Diseases

•Labor force

President Theodore Roosevelt

•26th President of the United

States

•Elected in 1901

•Want U.S. control in Panama

Panama Revolution and IndependenceNovember 1903

Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty

•Signed on November 18, 1903

•Granted U.S. control over Panama Canal

for a price

•Negotiated by Phillipe Bunau-Varilla and U.S. Secretary of

State John Hay

U.S Canal construction

•Began in 1904

•Employed thousands of Panamanians and

U.S. construction companies

•First ship traveled thru the canal in

1914

•Officially finished in 1915

Archival Footage

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETgK3BkRm6A

Torrijos-Carter Treaties

•Signed on September 7,

1977

•Overruledoverturned the

Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty of

1903

Facts and Figures

• Construction began 1904 • Opened Aug. 15, 1914• 50 Miles long deep water to deep water• Average depth 43 feet• Width varies between 500 to 1000 feet• 14000 vessels pass every year• Average of 8 to 10 hour journey • Travel time from NYC to San Francisco 6000 miles

compared to 14000 taking route around Cape Horn• Tolls based on tonnage of the vessel

Key Figures in the Construction • William C. Gorgas- Surgeon

General U.S. Army 1914-1918 Sent to Panama in 1904 to eradicate yellow fever/ malaria from the Canal Zone.

• John F. Stevens- Chief engineer from 1905-1907, Responsible for initial work on the Culebra Cut and deciding to build a lock type canal.

• Gen. George Washington Goethals. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ,Assigned completion of canal in 1907 by Pres. Roosevelt.

Culebra Cut• Manmade valley that cuts

through continental divide• Line that divides the flow of

water between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans-East to West

• The Cut forms part of the Panama Canal linking Lake Gatun and the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Panama and Pacific Ocean

• It is 4.8 miles from Pedro Locks on the Pacific side of the Chagres River (water levels of 85 feet above sea level)

Layout of Canal• Consists of artificial

lakes (Miraflores, Gatun)and channels and three sets of locks

• Additional artificial lake, Alajuela Lake, acts as a reservoir for the canal

• Chagres River is dammed by the Gatun Dam and forms Gatun Lake-it drains northwest into the Caribbean Sea

Gatun Dam• Constructed 1907-

1913• Impounds Gatun Lake • Hydro-electric

generating station generates electricity

• Electricity used to operate the locks and other equipment in the canal

How Locks Work/Design• Three sets of the two lane Canal work as water elevators to lift the

ships to the level of the Gatun Lake • Set of lanes can accommodate traffic on opposite or same direction• No pumps used to lift the ships, the work is done by a force of gravity• Later lower the ships back to sea level on the other side of the

Isthmus of Panama• Electric locomotive on the side provides complete control of

movement of vessels• All operations accomplished from a control house built on the center

wall of the upper lock chamber.• Single person can run every operation in the passage of the ship

except for the towing

• .

Know details about the canal

• http://www.pancanal.com/eng/multimedia/index.html

Murals

• Located in the rotunda of the Panama Canal Administration Building

• Painted by New Yorker William B. Van Ingen• Also painted murals in U.S. Library of Congress

and Philadelphia Mint.• Depict the labor involved in the building of the

Canal through four scenes.

Culebra Cut Excavation

Construction of Miraflores Locks

Gatun Dam Spillway Construction

Canal Lock Gate Under Construction

Story of the Bridges

• When the Panama Canal was completed in 1914, it divided the country of Panama as well as North and South America except for a small service bridge at the Gatun Locks.

• In 1942, a small service swing bridge was built at the Miraflores Locks. Both of these bridges were quite small and can only be used when the locks gates are closed. Therefore as traffic increased, the small service bridges and ferries could not handle the volume of traffic.

• Finally in 1959, the United States started construction on the Bridge of the Americas and completed the bridge in 1962.

• When opened, the bridge was an important part of the Pan-American Highway, and carried around 9,500 vehicles per day; however, this expanded over time, and by 2004 the bridge was carrying 35,000 vehicles per day. The bridge therefore became a significant bottleneck on the highway, which led to the construction of the Centennial Bridge, which now carries the Pan-American Highway too.

Bridge of the Americas

Bridge of the Americas

• Puente de Las Américas (In Spanish).• The Bridge of the Americas is approximately 354 ft.

high and 5,400 ft. long, and connects the land that was divided during the construction of the Panama Canal(as well as north and south America). The Bridge of the Americas crosses the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal at Balboa, near Panama City and serves as an important part of the Inter-American Highway.

• -Originally known as the Thatcher Ferry Bridge, is a road bridge in Panama, which spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

• -Completed in 1962, costing $20 million, it was the only non-swinging bridge (there are two other bridges, one at the Miraflores locks and one at the Gatun locks)

Centennial Bridge

Centennial Bridge

• (Spanish: Puente Centenario) A major bridge crossing the Panama Canal. It

was built to supplement the overcrowded Bridge of the Americas, and to replace it as the carrier of the Pan-American Highway; upon its opening in 2004, it became only the second permanent crossing of the canal.

• The bridge is cable-stayed ,meaning it’s a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge, the cables are made nearly parallel by attaching cables to various points on the tower.

• It’s designed with a total span of 1,052 m (3,451 ft). The main span is 320 m (1,050 ft), and clears the canal by 80 m (262 ft), allowing large vessels to pass below it.

• The bridge is supported by two towers, each 184 m (604 ft)

high. The deck carries six lanes of traffic across the canal.

The bridge is designed to withstand the earthquake.• The West Tower of the bridge was built ca. 50m inland to allow

space for the future widening of the Panama Canal.

Expansion efforts

• Panamanian President Martín Torrijos presented the plan on April 24, 2006. Saying that The project will double the canal's capacity and allow more traffic

• Panamanian citizens approved it in a national referendum by 76.8% of the vote on October 22, 2006.

• The first phase of the expansion project is the dry excavations of the 218 meter (715 ft) wide trench connecting the Culebra Cut with the Pacific coast, removing 47 million cubic meters of earth and rock.

• The project will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal by constructing a new set of locks. Details of the project include the following integrated components:

• Construction of two lock complexes—one on the Atlantic side and another on the Pacific side—each with three chambers, which include three water-saving basins;

• Excavation of new access channels to the new locks and the widening of existing navigational channels; and,

• Deepening of the navigation channels and the elevation of Gatun Lake’s maximum operating level.

Expansion Construction Photos

Objectives of the expansion

• (1) achieve long-term sustainability and growth for the Canal’s contributions to Panamanian society through the payments it makes to the National Treasury

• (2)maintain the Canal’s competitiveness as well as the value added by Panama’s maritime route to the national economy.

• (3) increase the Canal’s capacity to capture the growing tonnage demand with the appropriate levels of service for each market segment.

• (4) make the Canal more productive, safe and efficient.

Estimated time/cost

• The construction of the third set of locks project will take between seven to eight years. The new locks could begin operations between fiscal years 2014 and 2015.

• The construction cost of the third set of locks is estimated at approximately $5,250 million.($5.2 Billion)

Virtual Video of Expansion

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9T3_ohQwoc

Live Cameras

• http://www.pancanal.com/eng/multimedia/index

Water Preservation Efforts

• Gatun Lake loses a total of 52 million gallons of fresh water to the Ocean each time a ship transits the canal.

• During dry season the lake does not have enough water so it is a problem.

• United Nations Global Compact and a member of World Business Counsel of Sustainable Development , developed a sustainable program which will protect aquatic and terrestrial resources of the Canal Watershed.

• A set of new locks will diminish water loss and will reuse 60 percent of the water in each transit.

Final Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGMBUzFyVl4&feature=related

Works Cited • American Society of Civil Engineers. N.p.. n.d. web. 24 Nov. 2009.• Bridge of the Americas.Virtualpanama.com.N.p.n.d.web.24 Nov.2009• Centennial Bridge,Panama.absoluteastronomy.com.N.p.n.d.web. 24 Nov. 2009• Dunnell, Tony, “The Conceptual History of the Panama Canal” suite101.com. 23

Sept. 2009.web.24 Nov. 2009“• “John F. Big Smoke ‘Stevens”. Calisota Online.web.1 Nov. 2009• Panama Canal Authority. N. p.. n. d..web. 01 Nov. 2009• Panama Canal Expansion canalmuseum.com.N.P..n.d.web.1 Dec. 2009• Panama Canal Zone Totally Explained. N. p..n. d.. Web. 1 Nov. 2009• Small Planet Communications.“The Panama Canal”.N. p. n.d.. Web. 1 Nov. 2009• Winner, Don, “The Panama Canal Administration Building- Putting Things into

Historical Perspective” 11 Aug. 2006. Panama-Guide.com. Web. 1 Nov. 2009

Works Cited

• Animaniacs-The Panama Canal.17 June 2007.YouTube.web.29 Nov. 2009

• Building the U.S. Panama Canal Zone 1904 2 March 2008.YouTube.web.25 Nov. 2009

• Know details about the canal.pancanal.web. 24 Nov. 2009

• Panama Canal Expansion-Lock Concepts.1 March 2008.YouTube.web. 24 Nov. 2009