We left Zion on Friday morning, heading for Scottsdale via Las Vegas. Very little in the way of great scenery, but it’s a little faster traveling on the Interstate highways. Another attraction of this route is that it goes through Boulder, Nevada the site of the Hoover Dam. We had the opportunity to see the recently finished (October 21, 2010) Hoover Dam Bypass and actually travel across its bridge, the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. You may have seen some of the website photos, documenting progress of construction over the past couple of years.
We drove across the Hoover Dam where I could get shots of the bridge from below. We then turned around, re-crossed the dam and went back to travel across the bridge. Here are a couple of photos taken from the Hoover Dam.
Sorry about all the wires in the pictures, but it is a hydroelectric generating dam.
I can’t offer you the bird’s eye view, so I borrowed one from the bridge construction’s website.
A little narrative on the bridge, courtesy of Discovery News:
The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, spans the vast chasm 890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam.
The striking 1,900-foot-long structure, which reroutes traffic off of the two-lane road atop the dam, will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from terrorist threats, officials said.
It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in Colorado.
The bridge’s dimensions are staggering: at 1,050 feet, its support arch is the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere, holding up a roadway that leans on 300-foot-long concrete pillars, some of the tallest in the world.
It contains 16 million pounds of steel, 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and two million feet of cable.
WOW!
A post 9/11 homeland security project I assume.
I’m impressed – I din’t know it existed – a must see upon retirement. Somewhat reminiscent of the Roman aqueduct in France. BTW, I don’t comment often – but I am really enjoying your photography. Keep up the great work