The Panama Canal

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1) The Panama Canal is one of civil engineering’s greatest triumphs in which more than 42,000 workers played there role.

2) They moved enough earth and rubble to bury the island of Manhattan to a depth of 12 ft. — or enough to open a 16-ft.-wide tunnel to the center of the Earth.

3) The canal was finished on time and within budget. But after completion, a challenge remained: how to tame the flood waters of Chagres River. Civil engineers erected a dam that formed the world’s then-largest man-made lake.

4) Today the Canal operates much as it did in 1914. In each transit, 52 million gallons of fresh water is lost, but it is quickly replaced by Panama’s heavy rainfall. The canal remains a marvelous wonder constructed with the combined skills of structural, geotechnical, hydraulic and sanitary engineers.

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