ENGINEERING ASCE 2014

ground on a $5.25-billion expansion project that will double the canal’s capacity by adding a third lane of traffic and widening and deepening exist- ing lanes. The project is scheduled for comple- tion in 2015.

A Rising Tide Panama offers ‘much more beyond the canal, but celebrat- ing the hundredth anniversary of the canal, it’s a historical moment.’

Since its official opening on Aug. 15, 1914, the

canal has become a crucial link in international maritime trade and tourism — giving passage to more than 1 million ships by the end of 2011. More than that, it helped usher the United States onto the world stage. “As a symbol of American efficiency, enthusiasm, and contributions to world civilization, the Panama Canal hovered over the twentieth cen- tury like a phantom,” Greene writes. “It connected the acknowledged strengths of the United States in medicine, technology, and industry to expansionist aims and in this way helped make Americans more comfortable with their new role as a world power.” And the canal is about to get even bigger. In 2007, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) broke

60 PCMA CONVENE SEPTEMBER 2013

BEYOND THE CANAL This is the marvel of engineering, industry, and policy around which ASCE will build next year’s Civil Engineering Conference. “The ASCE has a longstanding relationship with Panama and the canal,” said Ana María Viscasillas, a business-tour- ism consultant who is working with the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP) to promote Panama as an international meeting destination. “In one of the museums in Panama City, it shows one of the former presidents of the society actually working on the canal. It’s a wonderful tie-in. Those del- egates attending the convention will experience not only the majesty of the canal but also enjoy the new expansion…. [Panama offers] much more beyond the canal, but celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the canal, it’s a historical moment.” But before formally committing to the desti-

nation, in April 2012 Rushing and other ASCE executives — the executive director, the senior managing director of communications and public relations, the senior managing director of engineering and lifelong learning, and the then- president of the board of directors — attended the Panama Canal 2012 International Engineer- ing and Infrastructure Congress, organized by ACP and Congrex, and supported by ASCE. “We went down to see how that was run, what kind of

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PHOTO BY GORDON PANORAMIC PHOTO CO