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Pedro Miguel Locks, Miraflores Lake and Miraflores Locks— Pacific Sea Level Section of Panama Canal in Background or double-barreled, and the construc- tion of a third flight would give an increase of 50 per cent in the ca- pacity for lockages. The need of this third flight is apparently remote, as we are yet a long way from reach- ing the full capacity of the present canal. With the third flight of locks it would be possible to handle about four times as much traffic as is now making use of the canal. Constantly Improving the Channel The Alhajuela project has not yet been begun, but surveys have been made and the necessary land has been acquired. The house of repre- sentatives has passed an appropria- tion of $250,000, which is not yet through the senate, for preliminary work. This may be used either for road work in the construction of a 16-mile road necessary to connect the present Canal Zone roads with the site of the dam, or may be used in preliminaries on the site, such as drilling in order to determine the best location and most suitable type of dam. It is estimated that the en- tire project would cost about 10 mil- lion dollars and require about five years for completion. On account of the time involved the canal adminis- tration has been urging for several years past the immediate beginning of the work. The Alhajuela project is the major improvement in prospect for the canal. For several years past, how- ever, the present channel has been undergoing improvement. This em- braces two main features. One is deepening the Pacific sea level sec- tion; the other is the widening of Gaillard cut at certain curves and approaches in order to make naviga- tion easier and safer. The cut, as constructed, followed roughly the courses of the Obispo and Rio Grande rivers; and for the sake of economy did not adopt the straight line which is the shortest course between two points. It has been necessary to operate a dredging fleet to maintain the channel against slides and silting, and this fleet has been employed also in widening and deepening the channel where advis- able. In the Pacific sea level section, a distance of about eight miles, from the lower end of Miraflores locks to deep water in the Pacific, the depth of the 500-foot wide channel as orig- inally completed was 45 feet at mean tide. The tidal range at Balboa is as much as 21 feet. An extreme tide reduces the depth of the channel in the Pacific sea level section to less than 35 feet. The canal has handled vessels drawing over 36 feet of water. To provide ample depth for such vessels and for capital ships of the navy at any stage of the tide, the administration is deepening the entire Pacific sea level section by five feet to a ruling depth of 50 feet below mean sea level. This project, which is being worked on steadily by a few of the elements of the regular dredging fleet, has been under way for about three and one-half years and probably an equal length of time will yet be required to complete it in a satisfactory manner. Pacific Terminals Dry Dock and Shop Buildings, Balboa, Canal Zone MARINE REviEw—April, 1928 81