panama canel

1. Jai nagawat
Indore , India

3. 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.”

4. The Panama Canal:
“A Wonder of Work”

5. Joseph Pennell
“I looked down into a yawning gulf stretching to
right and left, the bottom filled with crowds of
tiny men and tiny trains … Overhead, huge iron
buckets flew to and fro, great cranes raised or
lowered huge masses of material…As I looked a
bell rang, the men dropped their tools, and lines
of little figures marched away, or climbed wooden
stairs and iron ladders to the surface… It was
perfect, the apotheosis of the Wonder of Work…”

6. Case Study of U.S. Policy and
Problems to be Overcome
1.Political
Problems
2.Geographical
Problems
3.Other Natural
Problems

7. Political Problem Gran Columbia
Panama
In the 1820s,
at the time of
initial American
interest in the
Panama
Canal,
Panama was
part of Gran
Colombia.

8. Geographical Problems
Three major geographical
problems:
1. complex mountain range
formation;
2. tropical jungles; and
3. complex topography

9. Complex Mountain Range Formation

10. Tropical Jungles
Tropical
jungles with
an average
annual
rainfall of 105
inches and
average
temperature
of 80
degrees
Fahrenheit

11. Complex Topography

12. The Other Natural Problem: Disease the “killer” obstacle

14. 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

15. •From the Atlantic Ocean the Panama Canal runs south for ten
miles (17 km) and then eastward to the Pacific Ocean.
•The total soil excavated from the canal would build a pyramid
4,200 feet (1,280 meters) high.
•During the construction engineers working on the project
earned from $225 to $600 per month. Physicians earned from
$150 to $300.
•The project consumed as much as twelve million pounds of
dynamite per year.
•Gatun Lake, the highest part of the canal, is about 85 feet (26
meters) above sea level.

16. •The Commissary Department provided food for the
entire work force and baked as many as six million
loaves of bread, 650,000 rolls, and 114,000 pounds
of cake per year.
•It took nine hours and forty minutes for the passage
of the first ship through the canal. The average is 810 hours.
•When the canal opened tolls were set at $1.20 per
ton for freight and $1.50 per ton for passengers. A
freighter carrying a cargo of 4,500 tons paid a toll of
$5,400.
•When the Panama Canal opened to traffic, the
United States had spent $352 million.

17. Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty
•Signed on
November 18, 1903
•Granted U.S.
control over
Panama Canal for a
price
•Negotiated by
Phillipe BunauVarilla and U.S.
Secretary of State
John Hay

18. 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

19. 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

20. Gatun Dam
• Constructed 19071913
• Impounds Gatun Lake
• Hydro-electric
generating station
generates electricity
• Electricity used to
operate the locks and
other equipment in
the canal

21. 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

22. • .

23. Gatun Dam Spillway Construction

24. Canal Lock Gate Under Construction

25. • Panama Canal is an 82-kilometre (51 mi) ship canal in Panama
that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the
Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is
a key conduit for international maritime trade.
• Work on the canal, which began in 1880, was completed in 1914,
making it no longer necessary for ships to sail the lengthy Cape
Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America and to
navigate the dangerous waters of the Strait of Magellan.

26. Pennel began his artistic journal through the Canal from the Atlantic
Ocean at Colon where American Canal employees lived in wooden
bungalows. According to Pennell, the bungalows were “…built of
wood, painted white, and completely screened with wire gauze, rusted
black by the dampness, a protection from mosquitoes and other
beasts, bugs, and vermin.”
Colon

27. Gatun Locks

28. The Guard Gate, Gatun
Pennell noted the
“magnificent arrangements”
of the Gatun gates. He
wrote: “I have never seen
such a magnificent
arrangement of line, light
and mass…great work is
great art, and always was
and will be. This is the
Wonder of Work.”

29. Construction of Gatun Lock

30. The Culebra Cut at Bas Obispo
The Culebra Cut at Las Cascadas

31. Gatun Lake

32. Pedro Miguel Locks

33. Pennell was also impressed with the walls of
the Pedro Miguel Locks

34. Miraflores Locks

35. Pennell was fascinated by
the giant cranes at
Miraflores Locks.

36. Panama City
The entrance to the
Pacific Ocean at
Panama City

37. “The Kiss of Oceans”
The Canal opened for operation in
1914, completing what one artist
called the “Kiss of Oceans.”

38. Bridge of the Americas

39. 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.

40. • -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)

41. Centennial Bridge

42. 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.

43. •
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.

44. 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.

45. • 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.

46. Expansion Construction Photos

47. 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.

48. 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)

50. 1909 Lock Construction
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. In today’s money it would cost $7,448,028,707.72

51. At the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, workers poured
enough concrete to build a wall 8' wide, 12' high, and 133
miles long. They built culverts the size of railroad tunnels to
channel water from Gatun Lake into the locks.

52. By August 15, 1914 the Panama Canal was officially
opened by the passing of the SS Ancon.

53. Panama Canal
Map of the Panama Canal
Figure 3: A map showing the route of the
completed canal. A series of "locks" are
used to control the water level within the
canal.

57. Technological Fact #1
Upon the Canal’s
completion, a ship
traveling from New
York to San
Francisco saved
7,872 miles by using
the Panama Canal
instead of going
around South
America. The
average time spent in
transit from port to
port is approx. 8 - 10
hours.

58. Technological Fact #2
Between 1904 and 1913, a total of 56,307 people
worked on the construction of the waterway. Of
these, 11,873 were Europeans, 31,071 were from
the various Caribbean nations, 11,000 were
American, and 69 were not classified.

59. Technological Fact #3
Construction costs for
the Canal reached
approximately $352
million. When including
the $10 million paid to
Panama, the $40 million
paid to the French
company, and the money
previously invested by
the French, the total
expenditures were about
$639 million.

60. Technological Fact #4
During the US construction
period, 232 million cubic
yards of earth were
removed. This quantity,
added to the 30 million
removed by the French,
provide an approximate of
262 million total cubic
yards of earth. How to
dispose of the excavated
material was an important
aspect of the excavation.

61. Technological
Fact #5
Millions of cubic
yards were
deposited in the
jungles of Panama.
The biggest
dumps were in
Miraflores, Gatun,
Tabernilla and
Balboa.

62. Technological Fact #6
The highest Canal
toll ever recorded
by $ 141,344.91
paid by the Crown
Princess and the
lowest toll ever
paid was 36 cents
by Richard
Halliburton for
swimming the
Canal in 1928.

63. Technological Fact #7
By 2006, the Panama
Canal was maxed out.
In October, the country's voters
approved a $5.25 billion plan to
expand and modernize the canal.
The project will include:
• two new sets of singlelane, three-step locks — one
set at the Atlantic entrance
and one at the Pacific;
• two new navigational
channels to connect the new
locks to existing channels;
and
• deeper, wider versions of
existing shipping lanes.

64. Tight Fit…
In the current
canal locks, ships
have a clearance
of about 2 ft. on
either side.

65. Updates on the Panama Canal began in
2007.
To connect those locks to
existing shipping lanes, nearly
5 miles of channels will be
excavated. The current route
through Gatun Lake will also
be deepened by 5 ft. and
widened, from today’s 500 ft.
minimum, to 920 ft. on
straightaways and 1200 ft. in
the turns. Gatun Lake will then
be raised 1.5 ft., providing an
extra 550 million gallons of
water each day for the locks
and alleviating concerns that
canal expansion will tax water
supplies.