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" Another huge container ship is sliding, almost silently, past the balcony of my hotel. We overlook the southern terminus of the Panama Canal, where the excavated channel enters a small bay dotted with anchored yachts and fishing boats. It looks like any modest harbor\u2014until a massive freighter piled high with containers blots out the sky. We spent much of the day at the Miraflores locks on the Pacific end of the canal. Even as the Panama Canal Authority moves forward on its ambitious plans to expand the canal, it is pretty impressive to see how well the existing canal still functions almost a century after it was designed. Miraflores is the first set of locks encountered by northbound ships. (The first thing you have to do to understand the canal is to get rid of that mental image we all have of the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific in a neat east-west line. From the Pacific the canal actually angles northwest toward the Atlantic. It also helps to remember that Panama is south not of Mexico, but of Florida.) Each set of locks has two channels, which allows for simultaneous transits in opposite directions. But when it comes to moving the really large vessels\u2014including the famous &amp;quot;Panamax&amp;quot; ships built to fit the lock chambers the way an ice cube fits its tray\u2014the Canal Authority likes to route the traffic in one direction at a time. They move the big ships in from the south in the mornings, then reverse the flow in the afternoon. We watched a series of Panamax monsters shuffle through Miraflores like dancers in a conga line. For me, this trip is as much personal as professional. My grandfather, Al Meigs, crossed the Panamanian isthmus in 1913\u2014by rail, as the canal wasn&amp;#039;t yet finished. A man who loved all things mechanical, he was fascinated by what he saw and decided to hire on. He was assigned to Miraflores where he helped install the machinery that operates the locks. When the canal was finished in 1914, he was asked to stay on and help keep it all running. He spent his entire career as Mechanical Supervisor at these locks. Today, the modern visitors&amp;#039; center stands where his office used to be. And my father grew up a stone&amp;#039;s throw from here, in Pedro Miguel, a small town built for Canal Zone workers. I&amp;#039;ve been hearing stories about Panama and the canal since I was little. But this is my first trip here, and I have my father along as a guide. Unlike many American Canal Zone veterans, he supported the treaty that handed over control of the canal to Panama in 1999. He is pleased to see that infrastructure his father helped build appears well cared for. In fact, the canal today handles a far greater volume of cargo than ever before. Over the next few days, we&amp;#039;ll be examining the plan for the new locks and interviewing Panama Canal Authority officials. My initial take is that the plan is a good one; the engineering involves well-proven technologies, and the economic rationale appears sound. But I&amp;#039;ll reserve final judgment until my dad gives it the thumbs-up. \u2013Jim Meigs EARLIER: Behind Panama&amp;#039;s vote to expand the canal\u2014the politics and the players PM editor-in-chief Jim Meigs and executive editor David Dunbar at Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal. Meigs grandfather was Mechanical Supervisor for these locks from 1914 to 1946. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) The gates to one of the Miraflores lock chambers opening to allow a transit. Originally, each of these gates was moved by a single 40-hp electric motor. Today, a hydraulic system does the job. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Each lock chamber is just under 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide. Ships designed to fit these locks are known as &amp;quot;Panamax.&amp;quot; The growth in larger &amp;quot;post-Panamax&amp;quot; ships that cant fit the current canal is one rationale for building a new, much larger set of locks. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) A. James Meigs inspects new control equipment designed to manage water flow between lock chambers. His father, Al Meigs, installed much of the original machinary that controlled these functions. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a4922/4200725/>