Nearly $5 billion over-budget and two years behind schedule, the newly renovated Panama Canal reopened for use this week. Panamanian officials hope that the massive 102 year-old structure would double the amount of cargo traveling to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
However, if you thought the recent project may have been wrought with issues, imagine what the original engineers were faced with over a century ago. Initially started by the French, after facing hundreds of deaths from the workers due to yellow fever and other mishaps, the US took over the ambitious project before handing it over to the Panamanians.
Here’s several images that show the transformation of the canal throughout the years:
SEE ALSO: The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion is an engineering marvel
Construction of the canal begins.
President Theodore Roosevelt at the controls of an excavating machine digging the Panama Canal in 1906.
The Panama Canal locks under construction in 1910. Each of these was 78 feet high and 36 feet wide.
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