Just passed through it last November on a cruise ship. Fascinating piece of engineering. The new dig is massive.
Just what California needs ... less available work for more available workers.
Yeah, it’s an engineering wonder of the world, no doubt. I highly recommend the book “Path Between the Seas” by David McCullough. We all read it between San Diego and Panama, and it added a lot to our understanding.
The interesting thing about the new dig is that it’s really an old dig.
A substantial portion of the engineering and excavation was done in WWII, to allow the passage of the Midway class carriers and Montana class battleships, which were too wide for the original locks.
The work was abandoned when the steel for the locks (and the five projected Montanas) was diverted to higher priority projects. So the Panamanians (and ChiComs) had a big leg up in making the current effort happen.