Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam
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Las Vegas Sun
Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam
Courtesy Federal Highway Administration
A computer rendering of the completed bridge against the Hoover Dam.
Associated Press
Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 | 1:50 a.m.
Less than a mile downstream from one of the nation's best-known engineering marvels, the Hoover Dam, a second is taking shape.
A soaring 1,900-foot span across the gorge created by the Colorado River on the Arizona-Nevada border should be completed this fall, eliminating much of a sometimes hourlong bottleneck as traffic creeps over the dam on the key route between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
When it is scheduled to open in November, motorists will cross the longest bridge of its kind in the western hemisphere, with towering concrete columns that rise above a twin rib arch beneath them.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/feb/08/hoover-dam-bridge/
I am bummed. That bridge is going to destroy the majestic view of America’s greatest dam.
The bridge is a project of the same company that designed the new Veteran's Bridge in Portland
Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com
When we visited there last year, we were told that the bridge was built in response to 9/11 and fears that access to Hoover Dam was too easy and that they wanted to limit/eliminate traffic across the dam. Can anyone confirm or refute that claim?
By the way, that is one impressive bridge!
That is correct Average Joe. I lived in Vegas for several years as a child, and have been back numerous times since. Currently, they have roadblocks on both sides of the dam, and all vehicles are stopped and searched before they can proceed. And yes, the traffic is awful too. It can take over an hour to drive over the dam. It's only a two lane road. Before 911, they used to do tours down inside of the dam, and they discontinued those after 911. I always marvel how much change there has been over the years. As a kid we would go down there and there would be no one at the dam at all. And all around was total open desert, no towns, except for little Boulder City. It almost makes me want to be an environmental liberal.
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Think of it as the best bridge by a dam site.