The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) officially began the works related to the Panama Canal Expansion in September 2007, with the excavation work for the creation of the Pacific Access Channel that would link the Third Set of Locks on the Pacific side to the Gaillard Cut, also known as the Culebra Cut. The work required the excavation of 50 million cubic meters of material, along a 6.1 kilometers, in five (5) phases and the construction of 4 dams, the longest one being a 2.3 kilometer (Dam 1E) needed to separate the water waters of Miraflores Lake from those of the new Pacific Access channel.
All the designs and the work done for the Pacific Access Channel, was founded on the geologic investigations completed by ACP. Between the years 1938 and 2001 different geologic investigations were undertaken in the area, in relation to the original Third Set of Locks Project and different other smaller projects in the vicinity. All these investigations were used as the base of the specific investigation campaign for the Pacific Access Channel that started in the year 2001 and ended in the year 2008. This investigation campaign included drill holes, test pits, geophysical investigations, in situ tests and laboratory testing, geologic mapping, elaboration of geologic section, and reports.