1 of 4

Vehicles drive over the new bridge that spans the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, Friday, August 2, 2019. The 4.6 km bridge spans the canal but on the Caribbean side of the country. (AP Photo/Eric Batista)

2 of 4

Panama's President Laurentino Cortizo speaks during the opening of the new bridge that spans the Panama Canal, in Colon, Panama, Friday, August 2, 2019. The 4.6 km bridge spans the canal but on the Caribbean side of the country. (AP Photo/Eric Batista)

3 of 4

The new bridge that spans the Panama Canal stands in Colon, Panama, Friday, August 2, 2019. The 4.6 km bridge spans the canal but on the Caribbean side of the country. (AP Photo/Eric Batista)

4 of 4

Panama inaugurates third bridge over Panama Canal

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 8:26 PM ET Aug. 02, 2019

GATUN, Panama (AP) — Panama has inaugurated the third bridge connecting the country's eastern and western halves over the Panama Canal.

The $380 million bridge built by the Panama Canal Authority two decades after the U.S. turned the canal over to Panama will now allow continuous access for traffic moving east and west.

For decades, residents along Panama's Caribbean coast had to rely on a ferry and single lanes passing over the canal that are open only when the locks are closed.

Panama President Laurentino Cortizo is a native of the area known as Costa Abajo de Colon and he recalled Friday the torturous waits to cross from one side to the other, sometimes during medical emergencies. Cortizo says the new span is a "huge advance" for the area's residents.