GATUN, Panama — The Panama Canal’s expansion is finally beginning to look like a channel that will float some of the biggest ships in the world by mid-2015.

Gatun locks mark Atlantic side of Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Authority took a first step in the $3.35–billion effort to construct a new set of locks, with the Aug. 28 release of a request ...

The proposal now calls for new 180-foot-wide, 1,400-foot-long locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal that would dwarf the current 110-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long locks.

Included in the handover were the canal and locks, the huge Gatun Lakes dam, a hydroelectric plant, the isthmus-wide railroad, and the Panama Canal zone, with all its infrastructure.

Panama Canal Authority work crews conduct a scheduled maintenance and overhaul at Gatún Locks, located at the Atlantic Ocean entrance to the Canal.

Silversea’s Silver Whisper ( [800] 722-9955, www.silversea.com) will make two Panama Canal transits: a 16-day voyage from New Orleans to Los Angeles on Dec. 12 and a nine-day crossing from Colon ...

This article was originally published with the title “Build Gatun Locks for the Future” inScientific American Magazine Vol. 97 No. 26(December 1907), p. 470doi:10.1038 ...

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said that five “extreme-sized” panamax ships (more than 900´ in overall length) transited successively through the waterway’s Gatun Locks on August 26, 2004.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28.—That a firm foundation will be found for the Gatun Dam and locks of the Panama Canal is stated in the annual report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, made public here to-day.