Hoover Dam bridge marvel finished at last
A soaring bridge that will let drivers bypass Hoover Dam – and steer clear of its security checkpoints and tourists – will open after nearly eight years and $242m (€171m) worth of work.
The 1,900ft engineering wonder perched 890ft above the Colorado River is expected to slash travel time along the main route between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona, as motorists will no longer have to make their way across the dam’s winding two-lane road at a snail’s pace.
US transportation secretary Ray LaHood and a delegation of government officials including Arizona governor Jan Brewer and US Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, hailed the span linking the states as a crucial example of work being done nationwide to update America’s infrastructure.
Mr LaHood said the bypass was one of 15,000 transportation projects that included updating 4,000 miles of road.
The bridge, which officially opens next week, is named after former Nevada governor Mike O’Callaghan and Pat Tillman, the former National Football League player who quit the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers and died under friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Family members of Mr O’Callaghan and Mr Tillman watched the dedication ceremony from the span along with hundreds of building workers and their families.
People took photos and walked along the bridge before the ceremony, many taking long pauses to stare at the 75-year-old dam below – itself regarded as an engineering marvel.
It took five years and 21,000 workers to build the dam, and it cost $166m (€117m). The last of its more than five million barrels of cement was poured in 1935.
The bridge contains 16 million pounds of steel, 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and two million feet of cable – enough to stretch well past Phoenix from Las Vegas. The €242m price tag includes the cost to build roads and smaller bridges leading to the picturesque span.
Cars were previously routed across Hoover Dam to cross the border between Arizona and Nevada and checkpoints added after the September 11 2001 attacks often caused long tailbacks.
Government officials also heavily restricted the types of vehicles and cargo that could cross the dam, sending large vehicles an extra 23 miles through the resort town of Laughlin.
The new four-lane bridge allows travellers to bypass the dam much more quickly and with no checkpoints. The US Department of Transportation estimates it will cut at least 30 minutes from the trip.
Those going to the dam will no longer be able to pass over it to cross the border by car, though it will remain open as a tourist attraction.
Visitors to the dam often cannot help but turn and stare at the bridge, which officials say is the second-tallest bridge in the US. The tallest is the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado.
The bridge is the longest built with concrete arches in the western hemisphere, according to the Transportation Department. The arches measure 1,060ft.
