In 2006, Panamanians approved a referendum to expand the Panama Canal, doubling its capacity and allowing far larger ships to transit the 100-year-old waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific. Work began in 2007 to raise the capacity of Gatun Lake and build two new sets of locks, which would accommodate ships carrying up to 14,000 containers of freight, tripling the size limit. Sixteen massive steel gates, weighing an average of 3,100 tons each, were built in Italy and shipped to Panama to be installed in the new locks. Eight years and $5.2 billion later, the expansion project is nearing completion. The initial stages of flooding the canals have begun and the projected opening date has been set for April of 2016.
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Tugboats help a barge transporting the last rolling gate for the new locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal through the Miraflores locks in Panama City on December 10, 2014.#
A controlled explosion marks the beginning of the Panama Canal expansion project in Paraiso on the outskirts of Panama City on September 3, 2007.#
An U.P.C. (United For The Canal) worker looks at the excavation site for the construction of the third set of locks for the Panama Canal on August 27, 2010.#
The Panama Canal expansion project sits idle as a cruise ship navigates to the Gatun Locks in Gatun, Panama, on February 20, 2014. The canal expansion project was idle for days after work was halted over a disagreement with a contractor on cost overruns.#
People take pictures as tugboats help a barge transporting the last rolling gate for the new locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal through the Miraflores locks in Panama City December 10, 2014. According to Panama Canal authorities, the Panama Canal's fourth set of locks has 16 rolling gates, eight for each new lock complex.#
The last gate of the Pacific Locks is being installed as part of the Panama Canal expansion, as the media is offered a tour, in Cocoli, near Panama City, on April 28, 2015.#
An aerial view shows the new Panama Canal expansion project, at left, including the existing Gatun Locks on the right, during a media tour organized by contractor Salini Impregilo, in Gatun, Panama, on March 23, 2015.#
A Celebrity Infinity cruise ship is seen on the pacific side of the Panama Canal next to the Panama Canal Expansion project in Panama City on April 20, 2012.#
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