13 Photos of a Man Made Marvel...Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge Project

I am the kind of person that prefers to take a road less traveled. My husband and I have been traveling up and down the road from Oregon to Arizona for more years than I am willing to count. Sometimes traveling a less traveled road is simply not an option. As a result, we have started tracking changes on those roads we chose to wander down. Since we had traveled down I-5 for many years, we decided to take the road east and south through Salt Lake City. This route brought us to Las Vegas (best seafood buffets in the world....a nice stop in itself). We could go south in a couple of different ways from here but we have been taking Highway 93 so we could go over the top of Hoover Dam and watch the construction of the bypass bridge that will encourage those of us that are just traveling through to skip the dam route.

LAS VEGAS DISCOUNTS AND TOURS

If I were a tourist staying in Las Vegas or even there on business, I would seriously consider taking an excursion with a tour company out to Hoover Dam. There are many companies to choose from so I would suggest that the concierge at your hotel may be your best bet. By looking online you will find a list of companies and make some comparisons. Discounts in Las Vegas are the name of the game...be sure to check for coupons or discount books when you book a tour. The drive out to Hoover Dam does not take long but a clean, safe tour bus will take you directly to the place you want to be, the driver will point out points of interest and even give you a background on the dam itself.

While I am at it I will also mention the wonderful cheap hotel rooms that are available on Las Vegas Boulevard and in old downtown Las Vegas. Places like Circus Circus have cheap rooms but don't dismiss the classier places because you think they are too expensive. Do some research or click on an ad here on this page and begin building your information bank for this trip. I never skip a call to the hotel itself...you never know what you can find.

WHY HOOVER DAM

Hoover Dam has always been a favorite stop for me. We have driven out of Las Vegas anytime we were in the region just to take in the beauty of this man made wonder of the world . When the dam was built in the 1930's, acrobats were among the workers dangling over the canyon walls. They drilled holes then filled them with dynamite and even performed stunts for the other workers...when the bosses were not looking. I have heard stories about the men that fell to their death in the concrete had to be left to call the dam their final resting place. I have not seen anything about this story in many years...who knows, maybe it is just an urban legend. The dam measure 75 feet thick. A construction sight of this magnitude was bound to become almost mythical. It stands as a monument to what a creative man can accomplish. The style of the bridge has a beautiful Art Deco style and even the entrance to the rest rooms had me taking photos from the car. I love a good dam better than the average person. They are amazing.

So for the past three years we have been treated to seeing the evolution of a man made marvel called the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Because so many people travel over the two lane road that crosses the dam everyday on business, the federal government decided to build a bypass bridge that would bypass the dam and leave the highway that goes over the top of the dam to employees of the dam and tourist. As you can imagine a facility like this supplies electricity, flood control and recreation for millions of people and is a security worry for everyone involved. When the bridge is completed, keeping the dam secure will be considerably easier.

The design of this bridge surpasses anything I have ever seen. Because we were fortunate enough to watch the growth of the structure, we feel a certain ownership in it. Last Spring when we traveled over the dam there was a moment that took our breath away. As we rounded the corner and could get a full view of the bridge, we could see the spans had been joined together. The deck was not put down but it looked completed. I actually cheered and tears came to my eyes. The Travel Nevada website had this to say about that beautiful structure:

A spectacular four-lane highway bridge arching across the Colorado River will carry traffic between Nevada and Arizona beginning in November 2010. The current two-lane highway across the dam can no longer handle the 14,000 vehicles that travel here each day. Construction on the 1,900-foot-long structure, named the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, began in 2005. An impressive feat of engineering, the supporting twin-rib arch span echoes the elegant curves of the dam itself.

The dam itself sits 726 feet above the river level and you can see how this bridge looms over the top of it at a height of 900 feet above the river level. Each time we have passed this way we could see the cable strung from one side of the canyon to the other and trolley buckets could be seen moving on the cable carrying supplies and workers. The logistics of completing something like this seems utterly impossible to me. But there it is...a beautiful creation made by man.

Incidentally, all the pictures you see here are ones I have taken as we traveled down the road...through windows and the windshield. Some were even taken with my iPhone! Not bad huh!!

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